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THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN
RED CROSS IN ITALY

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Hmm VOKK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS
ATLAHTA • SAM FXAMOSCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LncrrsD

UmDOM • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA

THX MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TOIOMIO

'J .-' >.

THE STORY OF THE

AMERICAN RED CROSS

IN ITALY

CHARLES M. BAKEWELL

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1920

AM rights reserved

OOFTSIOHT. 1920,
BT THE MAOMILLAN OOMPANT

(EM up and tlaetrotirped. PuUiihed, AofUBt, 1920

• c • •»

: • -

• - < • •

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is not to give a detailed'
statistical account of Red Croaa activities in Italy, — that
may be found in the various Department Reports, — but
rather to tell the American people who contributed so gen-
erously to the Red Cross funds the simple tale of what
their dollars did in Italy. It is a great and inspiring
record and one in which Americans may well take pride.

The American Red Cross came to Italy in the hour
of her greatest need, not to bring charity, but to render
justice, by alleviating as far as possible the sufferings
brought on by two hard years of fighting in our common
cause before our own country took up arms. The ma-
terial aid that it has been privileged to give, at the front,
in canteens, in assistance to hospitals, and in helping refu-
gees and the needy families of soldiers, stretches from one
end of Italy to the other and looms large in figures. But
it is not in figures that one may find the true measure of
its achievement. What mattered most in winning the
war, and what matters most for our future relations, ia
the fact that through this material aid the Red Cross suc-
ceeded in translating into deeds the soul of America, in
making it plain to the Italians that we were there to work
as brothers, filled with a common enthusiasm and inspired
by common ideals; the fact that through it the heart of
America touched the heart of Italy, strengthening the
bonds of friendship that bind our nations together, by
mutual understanding and mutual respect.

It is the hope of the writer that this narrative of Red
Cross work may in its way contribute to a better under-
standing between our two peoples, by cpnyeying to the

OCT 1-1 r^^i

▼i ESTTEODUCTION

American reader something of that finer and more dis-
criminating appreciation of Italian character that our
workers in the field have invariably gained.

The story of the Ked Cross in Italy I shall tell in a
strictly impersonal way. There will be no attempt to ap-
portion praise, and, indeed, as far as it is possible to do
so, names will be omitted altogether. This procedure is
not only in harmony with the spirit of modesty that has
characterized the work of the Commission from the begin-
ning; it is also dictated by necessity. Only the Keeper
of all records could justly distribute credits, and there is
no doubt that on His books some of our humblest work-
ers will come in for the highest meed of praise. I have in
mind one Eed Cross worker who has been buried for ten
months in what to the casual tourist would appear to be
one of the most Godforsaken towns in Italy — poor, dilapi-
dated, far from the railroad and out of touch with the world.
Here, cut off from all communication with her kind, she
has performed her modest task, taking no vacation, daily
on the job from early morning until late in the evening.
Happy in her work, she has come to love the simple people
with whom her lot is cast, and should you commiserate
her, she will reply with a smile : " Human nature is
pretty much alike wherever you find it." By her tact and
devotion she has won the affection of the people and filled
with courage and a new loyalty hearts that were wavering
and made of a disloyal town one of the most loyal. There
is no glory and no fame in obscure service like this. But
such a faithful servant desires no glory. She is the
spirit of the Red Cross in the field, and she has many
names, — many which I know, many that I could not
give. Therefore I name her not. Let me simply, once
for all, clean the score by paying tribute to her wherever
in Italy she may be hidden, and to all the army of Eed
Cross workers in Eome and in the field, high and low,
whose devotion has made the work in Italy a success.

"Se exception only shall I make to this rule, and no

rNTEODTJCTION

Red Cross worker would forgive me if I failed to do so,
Tor tiere ia one thing in which there is imanimoua agree-
ment and that is, loyalty to and admiration for Colonel
Robert Perkins, the Italian Commissioner. It waa not
surprising that a auccessfiU business man should prove in
a new field a leader of men, but it waa indeed surprising
that a man knowing little or nothing of Italy or Italians
should so promptly grasp the political and economic situa-
tion, understand the people, win their hearts, and then
succeed in doing just the right things to make all Italy
know that America was whole-heartedly with her in the
fight. His spirit has permeated the entire organization
and given unity and aim to its efforts. It is duo to his tact
and wisdom and breadth of vision that the work of the
Red Cross in Italy has been, as a prominent Italian re-
cently expressed it : " Not merely a work of compassion,
but also a work of large constructive statesmanship."

In an undertaking of such magnitude, where much had
to be entrusted to men and women chosen from all walks of
life with no special equipment for their tasks save common
intelligence and a spirit of devotion, some mistakes were in-
evitable. It were as easy as it would be gratuitous to
point them out. For in a situation that called for im-
mediate and striking action the greatest of all blunders
would have been to avoid all blunders. That would have
meant deliberation and delay, and delay would have been
an irreparable blunder. Time was the essence of the
undertaking. But anyone who will make a careful in-
vestigation of the work that has been done throughout
Italy will be forced to the conclusion that the work of the
Italian Commission is entitled to its full share in the
commendation of General Pershing when, speaking of the
American Red Cross in general, he said : " Since the
world began there never has been a work for humanity
conducted on so large a scale with such economy, efficiency,
and despatch."

The writer wishes to acknowledge hia indebtedness to all

viii ESTTEODUOTION

members of the CommissioiL and District Delegates and
to the many other Eed Cross workers who have so gen-
erously aided him in his investigations and to thank l£em
for their unfailing courtesy. He is under special obliga-
tion to Major William Hereford, Director of the Public
Information Department, from whose well kept records
he has made large borrowings and whose advice and
friendly counsel have been invaluable.

CONTENTS

Italy's Entrance mto the Wab — Early Gains -
The American Relief Clearing Houeb — The
Baker Commission .

Capobetto — Refugees *-
commibbion . . .

Red Cross Euerqenct

m. Arrival of Permanent Commission — Campidoolio
Meetino — Plans and Ideals — Organization —
Civilian Relief and the "Inner Front" . ,

IV. Celebkatinq the Anniversary of America's Decla-
ration OF War — Cash Distribution to Soldiers'
Families — Ma. Davison's Visit — Meetino in
Colosseum — Station Canteens

V. Rolling Canteens — The June Offensive — A. H.
C. Ambulance Service — The Story of Lieu-
tenant McKey

VL Surgical Dressings — Hospital Supplieb — Hospi-
tals — Dispensaries — Fighting Spanish Fever

— Child Welfare Work — Summeh Colonies .

VIL A Tour Trough Italy in the Wake of the Red
Cross — Genoa — Turin — Milan — Padua —
Venice — Florence 1

VIU. Tour Trough Italy in the Wake of the Red Cross
(Continued) — Rome — Naples — Avellino —

— Bari — Reggio Calabria — Sicily (Taormina
AND Palermo) — Sardinia .....

CONTENTS

FAOM

IX Work with American Troops m Italy — The Ac-
tion AT THE Tagliamento — A Chaplain's Lettee
— Deliyert op Allotmen Cheques — The Home
Service Department 157

X. The Battle of Vittorio Veneto — Ambulances

AND BOLLINO CaNTEENS — FEEDING THE RETURNED

Prisoners at Trieste — Relief in the Invaded
Territory — Aiding Repatriates in the Trentino 182

XL Gbttinq Out — FraariNG Tuberculosis — Conclu-
sion . . . . 203

Appendices

Total Expenditures of A. R. C. Commission to
Italy, November, 1917, to June 30, 1919 — - Italian
version of Star Spangled Banner — American
Belief Clearing House in Rome — A. R. C. Tem-
porary Commission — Emergency Organization
of A. R C. in Italy — A. R. C. Commission in
Italy as of December 20, 1917 — Organization as
of November 1, 1918 — Representatives for Emer-
gency Work in Devastated Territory — Home
Service Department of A. R. C. in Italy — Am-
bulance Service and Rolling Canteen Service —
American Personnel — Italian Personnel — State-
ment of Some of the Chief Items Other than
Medical and Surgical Supplies Received and Dis-
tributed by the A. R. C. in Italy 209

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Italian Oommissionelr, the Ohairman and the Secretary
of the A. R. C Frontispiece

FAOIKO
PAOB

At Quarto on the fifth of May, 1915 3

The King of Italy 8

The Italian Commission 33

Map showing system of transportation 39

The ouvroir at Toscania 47

Eefugee boys at Monteporzio 53

Keception to Mr. Davison in the Oolosseum 64

American Red Cross Canteen on Grappa 72

On a camouflaged road at the front 80

Lieutenant McKey's rolling kitchen 84

American Eed Cross Hospital at Eimini 95

Map showing distribution of Red Cross work in Italy . . 109

The noonday meal at Varedo 113

Red Cross children in underground refuge at Venice . . 122

The asUo at Lucca 129

At the seaside colony at Mazzaro 146

Religious procession at Desola 155

Canteen for American Soldiers at Villa Franca . . . 162

Taking the wounded from a dressing station back of line • 184

*'Home'' 196

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS
IN ITALY

Italy's Entrance into the War — Early Gains — The AmericsB|
Belief Clearing House — The Baker CommiBBion

It was the fifth day of May, 1915. Special trains hadfl
' leen runniDg into Genoa since early momiag. But it waBi
not Genoa that held the attraction that had brought thiB
Tmwonted crowd of visitors. Through the city they hur-
ried, and on to Quarto by the aea, some three miles to the
east, on to the sacred rock where, just fifty-five years be-
fore, Garibaldi had set sail with his red-shirted regiment
of a thousand men, to realize the dream that had inspired
him when still a poor fisherman's boy of Nice — the dream
of an Italy, great, united, and free. The ostensible ob-
ject of the gathering was the unveiling of a monument in
honor of the " Thousand." But it was not of the past that
the people were thinking as they trudged along the dusty
Toad. They had not come to listen to praises of Italy's
hero, or to hear once more the story, which reads like a
Dumas romance, of the dramatic successes of his little
hand of intrepid men, first in Sicily, afterwards on the
mainland. The present was all absorbing. There was a
■world war raging, and the question of Italy's part therein
■was hurrying to a decision. Would she, would she not,
declare war?

A few months before Maeterlinck had brought to Italy

rjry of Belgium's wrongs, and the reception every-
accorded him plainly showed where the sympathies
^ :

a THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

of the people lay. Before the war broke out, on July 25,
1914, Italy had sent word to Vienna that should war re*
suit from the offensive note to Servia it would be due to
this " act of provocation and aggression on the part of
Austria," and she would consider herself absolved from
any obligation under the Triple Alliance. And when, in
consequence of this stand, the Italian Minister was able
a few days later to inform the French Ambassador that,
in case of war, France had nothing to fear from Italy,
it gave him as much satisfaction to deliver that message
as it did the Ambassador to receive it For whatever the
disputes that France and Italy may have had, they have
been of the nature of family quarrels which, however bitter
they may become, vanish in the presence of an attack from
witbout. There is a deep underlying attachment of Italy
to France, due in part to ties of blood and in part to ad-
miration of her democratic institutions.

But to sympathize is one thing; to fight, another. And
the Italians are a peace-loving people. Germany, de-
spairing from the first of having Italy for an ally, had
been bending all her efforts to keep her neutral. She
had sent Von Biilow, her master diplomat of the old
school, wily, ingratiating, and unscrupulous, to work to that
end. All the dark German methods of intrigue with which
we in America became familiar were in Italy intensified.
And the Central Powers had Ambassadors at the Vatican as
well as at the Quirinal. It is as if we had had two Bem-
storffs and two Dumbas to contend with. Moreover,
through the control of banks, hotels, commerce and in-
dustry, German capital had already all but effected the
peaceful conquest of Italy. And the opportunity given
through this commercial supremacy for spying and plot-
ting and making propaganda was unlimited. And Italy
was poor, and struggling under a heavy debt. The odds
seemed all on Germany's side.

And yet, another force had been working and steadily
graining headway, — one with which the Central Powers

^^^H

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wsSHnH

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111

mm:

ITALY'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAK,

■ properly reckoned,— the force of ideals, the for(
that defies the obvious, courts the impossible, and leada
forlorn hopes; the force that sent Columbus over the

i trackless sea, and sent Garibaldi with his " Thousand "
from Quarto fifty-five years before to rescue Sicily and re-
deem Italy. In the crowd gathered on the rock that day^
counsels of pnidence would have fallen on deaf ea
What stood out clearly was the fact that the task there
bravely begun had not been completed, for there was still,
a large part of Italian territory under the heel of the Aus-
trian oppressor.

The orator, the poet D'Annunzio, was a amall insignifi-
cant looking man with a thin voice. Not many of the
crowd could hear what he said and few of these could
understand all that they heard. It was a strange speech
for a popular gathering, highly poetic, replete with meta-

I phors and recondite classical allusions, full of strange
words or of familiar words given a strange and unusual
meaning. It is hard for Americans, more matter-of-fact
and downright, to imderstand the effect which this and the
apeechea that followed on succeeding days, as delegation
after delegation waited upon the poet, had upon those who
heard them, or read them afterwards, for they were at
once telegraphed from one end of Italy to the other and
printed in full in the leading papers. But there is some-
thing of the poet and much of the hero-worshipper in all
Italians ; and their love of Italy, which is almost passion-
ate, comes very near to being the only vital religion that
tiiey know. They rise to their greatest heights of heroism
and self sacrifice when the voice of duty is heard as the
clear call of the heroes of old bidding them " Carry on."

I It was not a freak of fancy that led the poet-orator that
day to borrow the language of the Bible, and adopt the
tone of the prophet as he brought to life the old Garibald-
ian heroes to speed tho new venture that should finally
realize the national aspirations of Italy.
Was it by chance that this meeting, at which King and

roQ^H

the I

4 THE AMEBICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

Cabinet were to have been present^ though, forced at the
last moment by affairs of state to remain awaj^ fell just
two days after Italy had sent the note to Austria declar-
ing her intention to resume her freedom of action, since
the Triple Alliance had been broken by Austria's deeds (
It was ahnost too well staged.

On the seventh day of May the Lusitania was sunk.
This imspeakable crime against humanity had the same
effect in Italy that it had Qiroughout the rest of the civil-
ized world. The meaning of the world-conflict was made
plain to everyone. Minds that were wavering, hesitated
no longer. Everywhere throughout Italy the air was elec-
tric with tension. And Parliament was to meet on the
twentieth. The decisive hour was approaching.

German agents, taking alarm, were busier than ever in
political circles in Eome. The path from the German to
the Austrian Embassy was well-worn from the frequent
visits of Von Billow in his endeavor to wrest concessions
from Austria, which he immediately carried to Baron Son-
nino, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the vain hope of
bribing Italy to remain neutral. (Von Biilow afterward,
commenting on his failure, said it was just his bad luck,
on coming to a country where everybody is always ready
to tell anybody everything he knows, to find himself pitted
against a Minister of Foreign Affairs who was the one man
in Italy who never told anybody anything.)

Events were crowding fast in those fateful spring days.
It was on the same seventh of May that Eome heard that
Russia's line had broken and that her army was in full re-
treat in the Carpathians. The German interests made
much of this, and to their bribes they now added threats.
Italy did not dare to fight now, they said, for the German
forces released by the Russian collapse could combine with
the Austrian ; and they threatened Italy with a punishment
worse than that of Belgium, — showing thereby the usual
Gennan inability to understand the psychology of inde-
pendent and non-cowardly peoples.

ITALY'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAB 6

(tWTien the tension was at its greatest Giolitti arrived in
me. Kow Giolitti had been Prime Minister many
iDtlis before and had resigned his office in March, 1914,
im atiU in full control of a majority in the Chamber
(JJeputies rather than face the responsibilities of dealing
*H B threatened labor crisis. And Giolitti, as was well
J was opposed to Italy's entering the war, and lie
I controlled a majority of the deputies. There were

Py gatherings of the Giolittians, "neutralists" they
id themselves — the Italian disguise for pro-German
Bud over three hundred, or roughly three-fifths of the
toae, pledged their support to their old leader.
On the eleventh of May the papers published the details
-^e concessions Austria was ready to make. Italy, as
} TpiTice of her neutrality, was to receive, after the war waa
tr, all the Italian-speaking provinces of the Trentino;
> eaatem frontier was to reach the Isonzo and include
she was to receive two islands of Dalmatia;
sas to have an independent government ; Italy was
laTB full liberty of action in. Albania, and to receive spe-
; trade concessions from Austria. We could obtain a
1 deal" (parecchio), argued the Giolittians, without
And here it was, printed for all to read. By pub-
ig the Austrian proposals the cards had been laid on
I table, and the question of their acceptance put up to
k people. The answer of the people was given in pro-
fe demonstrations all over Italy.
rte poet D'Annunzio, arriving at Rome the follow-
day, was welcomed by a crowd of more than fifty thou-
d citizens who pacted the large square in front of the
don and lined the streets leading to his hotel. This was
i a personal tribute to the poet who, as a man, was none
; popular in Italy at that time. But in some mys-
[ous way he had become the spokesman of the war
ty. In his Eoman speeches, beginning with the
Earangue to the Roman people in tumult," he showed
i he knew how to reach the hearts of his countrymen.

6 THE AHEBICAN BED CROSS IN ITALT

Throughout them all, in the background^ one continually
caught glimpses of the brave deeds of the ^^ Thousand "
fifty-five years ago, and the voice of the old Hero was heard
uttering the words of scorn : " long enough has Italy
been a museum, a hotel, the world's playgroimd, a charm-
ing old curiosity shop, long enough has her sky been
smeared with Prussian blue for international honey-
moons. . . . Our national genius bids us rise and put our
stamp on the real world of to-day. . • • Treason is in the
air. . . . We are on the point of being sold like a mean
herd of cattle. . . . They threaten to put the brand of
slave upon the brow of everyone of us. . . . The name of
Italian will be a name to make us blush and hide ourselves
in shame, a name to scorch the lips that utter it. • • •
The time to talk has passed. It is time to act and act as
Bomans should."

But Giolitti was still in Bome and the Giolittians in the
majority in the Chamber of Deputies. It was then that
Salandra played his master stroke. Without waiting for
Parliament to convene and the test vote to be taken, he
placed his resignation and that of his cabinet, in the hands
of the King on the thirteenth of May, the reason given
being that the views of the government had not that
imanimous support of the parties in Parliament which the
situation required. The news of the resignation was
flashed all over Italy. The people were aghast. Did this
mean that the pro-Germans had won ; that " Von Billow's
flunkey," as Giolitti was termed, had triumphed ? There
were more war demonstrations that evening in every city
of the realm — and riots in Bome, demonstrations whidi
were repeated on succeeding days. On the fourteenth, at
Milan the demonstration turned into a riot with attendant
bloodshed. An American, whose curiosity had led him to
follow the crowd, had more than once to dash like a
criminal into a dark alley for concealment, lest, being
obviously a foreigner and of blonde complexion, he be
taken for a German. A mob is not discriminating. Even

'S ENTRANCE INTO'lfHIi 'WlK

Italians with Hgbt hair pulled their caps low over their
There were bonfires in the squares where neutral-
ist papers were burned. The crowd broke into a large Ger-
man-owned music store — a quite un-Italian proceeding
— smashing instruments and throwing a grand piano from
a second storj window (the very building which by chance
later became headquarters of the Red Cross in Milan).
The crowd was in an ugly mood, and there were many
threats of what would happen should Salandra'a resigna-
tion be accepted. That same day in Rome the Giolittians
were openly branded as traitors, and there were more
demonstrations there.

Salandra'a stroke had been successful. The people
bad spoken and with no uncertain voice. The various po-
litical parties, taking the hint, passed resolutions in favor
of Salandra and his policy. And when on the sixteenth
the announcement was made that the King had refused to
accept Salandra's resignation, the enthusiasm of the people
was unbounded. By the hundred thousand they marched
to the Quirinal and called for the King, who with the
Crown Prince greeted them from a balcony, and then on
to the house of Salandra. Everywhere throughout Italy
there was rejoicing, bells were rung, the tri-color waved
and shouts of " Viva i'ltalia," " Viva la guerra " filled the
air.

One last effort the Austrians made to throw discord
into the political situation. On the twentieth of May, the
very moment that Parliament was to meet, the Austrian
Embassy gave out an official statement the substance of
which was that the territories she was willing to cede to
Italy would be handed over immediately, instead of after
the war, as previously announced. The answer was given
by Parliament, now thoroughly aroused, in a vote for war
by an overwhelming majority, 367 to 54; and at the same
time full power was granted to Salandra's cabinet. The
formal declaration of war was handed to Baron Burian at
yienna on the twenty-thitd. Diplomatic relations were

ft THE AMERICAN BED GROSS IN ITALY

at the same time broken with Germany, though war was
not declared. But Von Billow's secretary, on leaving
Rome, gave out the statement that " Germany and Aus-
tria were one, and that a formal declaration of war be-
tween Italy and Germany was superfluous. Such a dec-
laration would be given by German soldiers on the
battlefield."

Three days later the King left for the front to take
supreme command of the army and navy. His order of
the day to the troops began with the words : " The
solemn hour of Italy's vindication has come," and ended
as follows : " Soldiers, yours will be the glory of raising
the Italian tri-color on the sacred frontiers that nature it-
self has set as the boundary of our country. Yours will
be the glory of completing the work that your fathers
with such great heroism began."

It is clear that for Italy the war was a people's war.
The people willed it The cabinet may have planned and
bargained behind closed doors, but, with the majority of
the politicians opposed to the war, it would have been
helpless without llie consent and willing support of the
people. In saying the people willed it, one means the
people of the cities. There alone the country finds voice.
The large agricultural population live for the most part
out of contact with the world of affairs in ignorance of
what is going on. They are patient, living by routine,
and it t^es a long time for ideas to penetrate and take
hold. And the influence, of the priests at that time was,
with some notable exceptions, for the maintenance of
peace. So the people in the country districts were either
indifferent or opposed to the war. All this was to change
in time.

All credit must be given to Italy for her decision made
in the face of considerations of prudence and narrower

'f-interest, and in spite of pressure brought to bear from

luential sources, in spite of the underground plotting
onen propaganda of a well organized and ably di-

VV vr

Italy's be^t-beiov-rtl ritiztn. lipr liemoiTatir snldjfr kin

ITALY'S ENTKANCE INTO THE WAE

;ed host of German spies. And yet her decision waa
inevitable. Italy has been for the whole modem world the
mainapring of those intangible values that find expres-
sion in religion and art, in music and poetry, and that
constitute civilization — valnes against whose power over
the spirit of man the Huna of all ages have hurled their
hordes in vain. Nowhere has the power of ideals been
better manifested than in Italy, She had to run true to
form. Sympathy for France and Belgium and the ideals
of freedom for which they were fighting forms the deep
■underlying, though at first hardly articulate, motive that
determined her choice. This was re-enforced by intense
hatred of Austria and the evil things for which she stood,
a righteous hatred which had its origin in the bitter
iwrongs which Italy had suffered during the long yeara
* Austria's domination.
There waa, however, another motive, on the surface
Dre evident. Oall it national self-interest if you will.
It was Italy's true interest, the completion of her libera-
tion, the vision of the greater Italy. This was her " sa-
cred egoism " {sacro egoismo) — the phrase is Salandra's,
and has been much criticised, and foolishly. It is merely
honest. All depends upon where the emphasis is laid,
how large or how small the national ego. To be a united
people able to maintain its freedom and independence is
no \mworthy aim. Did any nation enter the war simply
and solely from altruistic and humanitarian motives ?
We Americans should remember with humility that the
moral issue waa as clear when Eelgitim was invaded and
the lAisitania snnk as it waa two years later when we took
up arma.

Great was the anger in Berlin over Italy's decision.
The German Chancellor gave vent to his wrath in a speech
in the Reichstag full of vituperation of the former ally.
And Salandra replied in his famous speech of June third.
It was a calm and reasoned argument, whose statements
were backed by documsntary evidence, introduced by the

a 1

*inei

10 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

scathing words: ^^ I am but a plain ordinary citizen, yet
standing here in the capitol representing as I do the people
and the government of Italy I feel myself nobler far than
the head of the house of Hapsburg. ... I could not, even
if I would, answer in kind the brutal words of our ac-
cusers. Reversion to primitive barbarism is more diffi-
cult for us who have twenty centuries of civilization to the
good.'*

Germany's anger is easily understood. There had been
keen resentment over Italy's initial refusal to join the
Central Powers. It was felt that her neutrality at the
outbreak of war, by releasing the French forces which
would otherwise have been held on the southern frontier,
was no insignificant contribution to the victory on the
Mame which had dashed the German hopes of speedy
triumph. And now, just when it would have been pos-
sible to add the weight of the Austrian troops released
by the Russian collapse to the forces on the western front
and deliver the crushing blow in France, Italy's declara-
tion of war made it necessary to send them to defend the
Italian border.

On the other hand, there was no lack of appreciation
on the part of the allies of the value of Italy's decisions.
But no one seems to have realized her potential fighting
power. She was regarded rather as a negative factor,
useful chiefly in holding a large number of German and
Austrian troops engaged on her front while the decisive
battles were being fought in France. And this view
seemed not unreasonable. At the outbreak of the war
Italy's army numbered less than 300,000 men, and only
a small fraction of these could have been put in the
field properly equipped. Her war chest was empty, and
her debt (in proportion to national wealth) more than
twice that of France, more than three times that of Eng-
land. She was dependent on imports for coal, iron, and
grain, and was hampered by inadequate means of trans-

'EANCE INTO THE WAK

>f neatral- ^^^H
e army to ^^^

P'portation. Quietly, during the nine months of
ity, the government had been busy bringing the
the full peace footing of between 700,000 and 800J000
men, and providing it with proper equipment, and ar-
ranging for the transformation of industries to meet the
exigencies of war. As a result, Italy had at or near her
border when she declared war a good fighting army of
approximately 600,000 men. This might be adequate for
defence, but all things considered, could more reason-
ably be expected ?

The story of how Italy, in spite of all her handicaps,
mobilized her war industries and multiplied five fold their
productivity — vastly more in some of the products, such
8B large-calibre sheila and hand-grenades — and how her
army steadily grew until more than five million men had
been called to the colors (one-seventh o£ her entire popula-
tion) needs to be told to give a proper understanding of
the vitality of modem Italy, and the earnestness of her
purpose in the war.

She had no idea of remaining a negative factor. War
was no sooner declared than, with a dash and daring
that aroused the wonder and admiration of the world,
she took the offensive and drove the war into enemy tei^
ritory. Rapidly crossing the strip of lowland that sepa-
rated her eastern border from the Isonzo Eiver and cap-
turing and " redeeming " in the first few days of the war,
Gradisca, Cormons, Aquileia and other old historic Italian
towns, she began the attack on the main Austrian strong-
holds along the Isonzo line. At the same time, in the
mountains in the north she launched another offensive,
gradually forcing the enemy back until she was within
sight of Rovereto and well on the way toward the city of
Trent. In the early summer of 1916 she was forced to
give up some of the ground thus gained, and to retire be-
hind her old lines in the region of Asiago, by a fierce
counter offensive of the Austriana which cost them 100,000

12 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

men and was brought to a standstill before their objective
was reached. Italy was saved from invasion from the
north.

It is necessary to study the map in order to under-
stand the difficulties Italy had to surmount. In 1866,
after the Austro-Prussian war, Prussia, wantonly break-
ing faith with her Italian ally, saw to it that the bound-
ary between Italy and Austria was drawn so as to give
Austria all the commanding positions. The line on the
long eight hundred kilometer border bends and twists and
zigzags in and out with no other object in view. In par-
ticular, the Trentino wedge stands out like a huge spear-
head pointed at the industrial heart of Italy, giving
Austria command of all the approaches to Verona,
Brescia, and the rich manufacturing cities of Lombardy.
It is as if everything had been planned by the Germans
away back in 1866 with a view to preparing for an easy
invasion of Italy from the north when the time was ripe
for the Huns of to-day to imitate the Hims of old and
pour down into the rich Lombard and Venetian plains,
burning, raping, sacking, even as they had done.

It was for Italy literally an uphill fight, for the Aus-
trians were always higher up. Moreover, Italy was
greatly inferior in artillery, having no large-calibre guns,
and was so short in ammimition that she was compelled to
use the greatest economy. Every round must count.
Everyone has heard of the skill of Italy's engineers in
constructing military roads and building bridges, and in
devising ways of conquering the Alps, swinging cannon
and supplies on steel ropes across yawning chasms and
over the tops of forests to inaccessible mountain crags.
But the full story of the bravery and endurance of the
hardy Alpini and other troops in this incomparably diffi-
cult battleground has yet to be written.

The bloodiest battles of Italy's war were fought on
the eastern frpnt. There she continued to hammer the
Austrian fortified positions from the outbreak of the war

ITALY'S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR I*"

f'tmtil the fall of 1917, taking many of the enemy atrong-
holds and capturing the well fortified town of Gorizia and
pushing on in the south on the Carso until within sight
of Trieste. Did the vision of that heautiful city which,
throughout all the centuries of foreign domination, has
, remained as thoroughly Italian in spirit and loyalty as
any city of the peninsula, east a spell on Cadorna? Was
it sentimental or political reasons that kept him strug-
gling against heavy odds on the Carso, or sent his brave
troops up over the table-land of the Bainsizza beyond
Gorizia to a victory so dearly bought? To the north
through Tarvis lay the old Napoleonic highway to Vienna.
Between the Italian trenches on the Carso and Trieste was
a succession of rugged hills strongly fortified, and
Btrflngely defended by nature, for their slopes are rocks,
often large and sharp and jagged and so thickly strewn
as to constitute a barrier more formidable than continu-
ous barbed wire entanglements. And dominating all was
the Hermada. But there ahead lay Trieste, the beauti-
t ful, calling for deliverance and enticing him on. There
ia something tragically chivalrous about the campaign on
the Carso. Tor it was tragic in the extreme. The Ital-
ians lost on the Carso and on the high table-land of the
Bainsizza 200,000 killed and 500,000 wounded. The
objective was not reached. Trieste was not to be set free
in this way.

From the first Italy suffered from the fact that she
had long been regarded as the world's museum and
pleasure-ground, a country to be seen and enjoyed, a land
of color and song — instead of being taken seriously as
a modem nation, prosaic, hardworking, industrial, and
progressive. Even in her history it was always the pic-
turesque episodes that stood out in relief. When one
I thought of her peasantry, one remembered the dashes of
^M color and flashing eyes and the friendly greeting, rather
^1 than the grime and the poverty. It was the same with
^L her soldiery. One did not think of the Bersaglieri as

14 THE AHEBICAN BED CB0S8 IN ITALY

picked aharpHshooters and crack troops of assanlty bat
rather as picturesque soldiers with great masses of
iridescent black plumes dangling over the side of their
helmets as they went forward, always on the run, to the
tune of their stirring Bersa^lieri march. The Alpini
with their soft slouch hats, decorated with a single
feather, suggested the glories of sunrise over the ice fields
above the clouds, rather than the sober hardships of
Alpine fighting. And the boyish looking Arditi with
their red or black fez caps and deliberately neglige uni-
forms who go into battle armed only with knife and hand
grenade, are the very picture of dare-deviltry in warfare.

And so from the distant shores of America Italy's
part in the war was watched with admiration indeed, but
always with a certain detachment. It was the picturesque
features that caught the eye : telef eric transport, the bat-
tles in the clouds, the blowing up of mountains, or the
daring exploits of individual heroes. It was all somehow
operatic — a story later to be put on the stage and sung.
It did not grip us at first as did the war in France. One
did not seem to realize that these episodes were the high
lights and that in Italy too, war meant the grim realism of
life in the trenches — dirty, uninspiring, hideously ugly
and savage and bloody. Seven hundred thousand lost in
dead and wounded on the Carso and Bainsizza! That
single fact tells the sobering story. Nor did we begin
to realize the extent of the sacrifices that the people
behind the lines were forced to make when their country,
already poor, was called upon to support one-seventh of
its population under arms.

But Americans living in Italy were under no illusions
and promptly organized for service. Our Ambassador,
Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, in October, 1915, called to-
gether a group of representative Americans and formed
Sie Italian Branch of the American Belief Clearing
House. For more than two years this was the only

Tican relief work in Italy. Loyal Ameri-

SAtPB ENTBASCE INTO THfiSpifi

cans resident in Rome, keenly appreciating tlie suffering
and needa of the people and the courage with which they
were supporting the heavy biirdena of the war and the
splendid spirit with which all classes were working for
the common end, sought the privilege of cooperating with
the Italians through this organization and generously gave
of their time and means. Friends of Italy in America
contributed money and supplies. The American Red
Cross gave assistance, and designated the Clearing House
as its representative in Italy,

How slow America was in recognizing the extent of
Italy's needs and of our obligations is shown by the fact
that the total sum contributed for the work of the Clear-
ing House during the first nineteen months of its activity,
or up to April 30, 1917, was only $100,000, To this
should be added a considerable quantity of surgical dress-
ings and hospital supplies. Slender and inadequate as
were the means at its disposal, their wise use made it pos-
sible to relieve much distress by aiding hospitals at the
front with medical supplies, helping the mutilated and
the families of soldiers killed in the war, and giving
financial assistance to many Italian relief organizations.

In the meantime, Mrs, Page had gathered together the
American women resident in Rome who, in her spacious
guest room, regularly met and worked, as the women in
America were working, making surgical dressings and all
kinds of hospital supplies. And many wives and widows
of soldiers were supplied with work through ber efforts.

The work of the Clearing House expanded more
rapidly in 1917. When it dissolved early in the follow-
ing year, its work having been taken over by the Per-
manent Commission of the American Red Cross, it bad
distributed the sum of five hundred thousand dollars, in
addition to hospital supplies of twice that value. But
the true measure of the work done is not to be foimd in
these figures, but in the spirit in which it was carried out,
This was the first tangible expresaion Italy bad received

16 THE AMERICAN ^EP CROSS IN ITALY

of America's friendship and sympathy and it was ap-
preciated as such by the Government and by those in
charge of the Italian relief organizations, as is shown by
the following testimonial from the Contessa di Kobilant,
wife of General di Robilant (one of the many received) :
" These Americans have had infinite tact in aiding us.
They made it appear almost as if it were not they who
were conferring a favor in giving, but we in permitting
them to assist in relieving the sufferings of our wounded.
I have seen them engaged in their work and I shall re-
member with gratitude their way of doing things; so quiet
and courteous has it been that most people have known
nothing about it."

The American Relief Clearing House had succeeded,
not only in establishing friendly relations with the Gov-
ernment, but also in making arrangements concerning rail-
way transportation, customs facilities, and methods of dis-
tribution, which were to prove of value to later commis-
sions.

In the summer of 1917 the American Red Cross sent
a Commission to Italy under George F. Baker, Jr., to
investigate conditions and report to Washington. This
Commission spent the month of September in making a
survey of the situation, giving special attention to the
hospital needs throughout the peninsula and to the condi-
tions and opportunities for assistance to the army at the
front. A committee of the Clearing House had just com-
pleted a thorough investigation of conditions at tiie front,
where it had been especially impressed with the possibilily
of carrying the message of America's friendship directly
to the soldiers themselves, upon whom the terrible strain
of continuous life in the trenches was beginning to show
itself in the increase of nervous diseases — and to do this
by giving them extra warm clothing for the coming
winter, by providing Christmas presents, and by equipping
'*Teation huts. This appealed favorably to the Red
mmission, which registered its approval by hand-

rrALf S ENTRANCE INTO THE WAR

B of money

ing over to the Clearing House substantial s
to be used for tliese purposes.

On the second of October the Commiasion departed.
leaving with Captain G. P. Stevens, as its representa-
tive, a million lire to be turned over to the Sanitd. MiH-
iare for the purchase of supplies for the various hospitals
under its direction; — and carrying back to Washington
a report that was out of date almost before their vessel
landed. This is not a reflection on the Commission, but
on the method of procedure. America had not yet learned
the futility of sending commissions to investigate, and re-
port back to a base three thousand milca away, on con-
ditions that are likely to change completely over-night. ,
Everything ia fluent and new problems are constantly
arising in a zone of war. But no one could have foretold
at the time that this Commission sailed that it was a
question of days when Italy would be overtaken by a

I disaster of such magnitude that all plans and calcula-
tions were set at naught, and that for a time the very
fate of the allies hung in the balance.

CHAPTER n

Caporetto — Befogees — Eed Gross Emergency CommissioiL

The blow fell from a clear sky. It is true that there
had been for some days an increase of activity on the
upper Isonzo^ but there was nothing particularly alarm-
ing in that It was also generally known that the enemy
had been concentrating its forces there in. preparation for
an attack and that the Austrians were reinforced by Ger-
mans. But Cadoma, in his communique of October 24,
speaking of the heavy bombardment on the previous day
which "marked the beginning of the expected attack''
could say " the onslaught of the enemy finds us prepared
and unflinching." And General Giardino, head of the
War Department, was equally reassuring in his speech in
Parliament on the same day reviewing tiie military situar
tion. " The enemy," he said, " knows that we are pr^
pared, but he is on the lookout to discover some gap or
weak point in our front in order to put a wedge into it
and break through. — Let the attack come," he exclaimed,
" we are unafraid ! " And almost as he spoke the enemy
had driven the wedge. The weak spot had been found.
A part of the line simply caved in. It was but a small
sector of the long Italian front, only a few miles in ex-
tent, but it was the strategic position in the neighborhood
of Caporetto. For when the line gave way at tiiis point,
it enabled the enemy to pour down the Natisone valley
to Cividale, cutting in behind the Italian Army from
Caporetto to the sea and threatening its capture entire.
It was later learned that this offensive had been planned
* Uest detail by the Germans and was conducted

th the aim of massing the forces of the Central

iftOENCT COMMISSION

Powers in one decisive blow which was to put Italy,
for all, out of the war. General Cadoroa's promptnesB
in grasping the significance of the break and immediately
ordering a general retreat, the perfect discipline and order
and forcefulnesa of the Third Army; and the bravery of
the protective troops, and particularly the cavalry, whole
regiments of which gloriously sacrificed themselves, frus-
trated part of the enemy's plan. The bulk of the army
was saved.

But the retreat continued all along the weary miles
that separate the Isonzo from the Piave River, where a
stand was finally made. The army was saved for the
time being. But the Italians had lost over 300,000 men
taken prisoner, 4,000 large-calibre guns, vast quantities of
stores and ammujiitioD, and all their first and second line
base hospitals; and the enemy had overrun Friuli, the
mountain provinces of Carnia and Cadore, and all the
eastern portion of the Veneto.

Napoleon, long years before, had discovered the strate-
gic importance of Caporetto. He wrote in 1809 to
Prince Eugene, who was leading his forces on this front
in his campaign against Austria, warning him of the dan-
ger of a break at that point, which would let the Austrians
through the valley of the Natisone and force a retreat to
the Piave which would then be the first adequate line of
defense. And shortly after this warning was sent Austria
did break throiigh at Caporetto, and everything happened
exactly as Napoleon had foreseen, and exactly aa it hap-
pened in October, 1917, more than a hundred years later.
It is safe to assume that the German strategists knew what
they were about, and that it was no accident that the
break occurred at Caporetto,

But how it happened that just at this point should have
been encountered disaffected Italian troops, ready to lay
down their arms and walk over to the' enemy when the
signal was given, and what caused the general disaffection
in the Second Army, are matters which have not yet been

RED CBOSS]

wholly cleared up, although aome o£ the more important
contributiug factors are obvioua, while it is equally obvious
that aome of the sensational etorica that were bandied
about in Rome at the time are without foundation. The
charge of treason was freely made. It was made in the
famous "suppressed commimiques" of Ot!tober 28 and
29. These communiques never got by the censor, al-
though what purported to be typewritten copies were
freely circulated among the officers at the front. They
were properly suppressed, if indeed they were genuine, for
the judgment was pronounced in anger. The matter waa
far from being so simple. In seeking an explanation the
first thing that is apparent is that there were certain under-
lying factors whose influence was by no means confined to
ihe men at the front. The war had lasted much longer
than anyone had anticipated and had been growing more
and more sanguinary and no apparent progress was being
made. There had been a short food crop and the activity
of submarines in the Mediterranean made it almost im-
possible to supplement this by importation. There had
been food riots in Turin in August, led by socialists
clamoring for peace. In August the Pope had addressed
his peace note to the belligerent powers, inviting them to
consider on what basis a peace could be signed. Prom-
inent socialist members of Parliament had demanded that
the Government reply. Aa ia well known, but not always
remembered, the Papal Court ia as independent of the
government of Italy as it ia of the government of the
United States, and it was maintaining a strict neutrality.
The Pope was therefore no more to be criticised for the
sending of this note than was our own President for
addressing a similar one to the Powers. But there can
be no doubt that in the simple mind of the ignorant
Italian peasant it might easily appear that the note was
addres"'^^ ■*" ''im personally and to aU the people, rather
thj" igerent governments. Peace talk was in

longing for peace in everyone's heart.

HED CROSS EMERGENCY COMMISSION

Bocialista had taken aa their slogan, " There shall be no
third winter in the trenchea." All of these influences
■were having their effect with the aoldiera at the front.
Then again there were other iufliieneeB more directly
ftfiecting the soldier. Ilia rations which in 1916 had been
700 grams of bread and 350 grams of meat had been in
1917 reduced to 400 grams of bread a day and 200 grama
of meat twice a week, with salt fish, sardines or vegetables
on the other days. For a time coffee and sugar gave out
and he had for breakfast five dried figs or five chestnuts.
Anxiety for the folks at home was certainly another in-
fluence, for the Italian, though much of an individualist,
is intensely devoted to his family. Besides, the Italian
soldier was given but one leave a year, and that for fifteen
days, moat of which had to be consumed in transit. And
these men of the Second Army who threw down their
arms, had been kept in the front line trenches for six
vreeka without respite. It was almost more than human
nature could endure. They were thoroughly fed up on the
war and thought and dreamed of nothing but peace. And
finally there was the direct Austrian propaganda, which
was well planned to strengthen and reinforce these other
influences. Leaflets were dropped over the trenchea in
which the Italians were told that the Austrians them-
Belves were sick of the war and longing for peace, that
"they were friends, and that peace would come if they

ii.only came together and threw down their arms and re-
fused to fight. It was the old familiar argmnent for

■non-resistance which we used to hear in America — it
takes two to make a quarrel, one nation or one man can-
not fight alone. In the trenches also suddenly appeared
post-cards with a picture of Christ and bearing beneath
the legend: "Why so much bloodshed? Think of your
nntilled fields and your desolate homes," And so the
Austrians and Italians exchanged messages and frater-
nized. And the day was set for the inauguration of
When the hour arrived and the Italians went

p eace. When the hour arrived and the Italians went J

22 THE AMEBIGAN RED CROSS Df ITALY

forth to meet friends, ihey were greeted by a withering
fire from German troops that had been substituted for the
friendly Austrians.

Thus the gap was found and through it Mackensen's
troops rushed, capturing a small army of prisoners, and
on through the valley of the Natisone close on the heels
of the fleeing remnant of the Second Army, which was
now in full rout. Some of the soldiers threw away their
guns as they ran, and sang and shouted " Peace I We are
going home. The war is over. One man canH fight
alone." Others cursed. Here were officers rallying their
soldiers and bravely turning in their tracks in the vain
attempt to check the oncoming forces of the enemy. Here
were others, wolves in sheep's clothing, Austrians and
Germans disguised in Italian uniforms, giving contrary
orders. Great was the confusion. How was one to know
whom to believe ?

But it would be an impardonable mistake to represent
the Austrian victory as having been won without re-
sistance. The official figures give the Italian losses of
Caporetto as 30,000 killed and 70,000 wounded. The
cave-in occurred on a small part of the line. The bulk
of the army fought bravely, as these figures show, and
took its heavy toll in Austrian lives.

Word of the disaster fiew on ahead. The great head-
quarters at Udine were abandoned on the 28th. And then
tiie greatest horrors of the retreat began. The civil
population of farms and villages, seeing the retreating
troops and hearing the booming of the cannon of the pur-
suing enemy were thrown into a panic and, abandoning
all they possessed, rushed to join the moving throng that
congested the highways. Mindful perhaps, of the fate of
the Belgians, they fied to escape a similar rule of terror.
They fled as they were. There was no time to collect
household goods, clothing, food, or money. Mothers tak-
iT- ■ " babes in their arms or carrying them in baskets
^ks, started on the weary journey that led they

BED CBOSB EMEROEKCT COMMISSION

not whither, — only that it was away from th»n
dreaded invader. And many hastily snatched up a few
prized possessions, only to find themselves later carefully
lugging such foolish things as people seize as they run away
from a house on fire. The absurd and the tragic walk ever
hand in hand. Here was an old woman carrying a pet
goose; there was a mother with her eleven children roped
together — a wise precaution, for many families were
separated in the flight. The terrible experiences of those
days and nights beggar description. Kain added to the
horrors. To this day the men who went through it all
cannot tell the story without being overcome with emotion.

There were other tragedies of the retreat besides those
affecting the civil population. Some of the soldiers had
thrown away their guns in the flight before the enemy, an
unpardonable offense in a soldier. These were caught at
the bridge crossings. And more than once, in the early
dawn, regiments were drawn up on three side* of a hollow
square as these unfortunates were led out before them to
face the firing squad. There was nothing heroic in their
last moments. They did not go to their death with head
ereet and defiant, but cowering and weeping and sadly be-
wildered. It was too much for their simple minds to take
in. It was just a horrible ending to the sweet dream of
peace, which had begun with a song in the distant moun-
tain valleys. In truth, they were neither traitors nor
cowards — merely victims of a fair hut fatal illusion.
Stem measures ! But, — e la gtierra. Stem measures
were necessary to bring order out of the chaos of those
terrible days. As a result, discipline was restored, the
rout became an orderly retreat before the Piave was
crossed. And there the army made a stand and held.

The Piave is not a formidable barrier. And that an
army demoralized by a smashing defeat, and crippled
by enownous losses of men and guns and ammunition,
suffering from himger and cold, and weary from many
days of forced marches through mud and rain, should

THS AMERICAN BED CROSS JS ITALT

hava been brought to order, abould have rallied and held
the superior forces of an enemy flushed with victory, is
little short of marvelous. One of the most glorious pages
in Italy's history was written on the banks o£ the Piave
in those early days of November.

But now Italy, her resources already taxed almost to
the breaking point, was called upon to bear an additional
burden of colossal proportions in caring for not far from
half a million old men, women and children, suddenly
rendered homeless and pennileas by the Caporetto de-
feat' The plight of these refugees was pitiable in the
extreme when they finally found their way to the railroad
stations. And yet their trials were only beginning. Still
htingry, cold, and footsore, they were crowded into cattle
cars as fast as these could be found (troop trains they
are called by courtesy) and started on the weary journey
for imknown destinations.— For the Government took
prompt measures to distribute them throughout all the
provinces of Italy. — And sometimes they traveled thus
for ten days or two weeks, men, women, and children, and
of all classes, closely packed, scarcely setting foot to earth,
endlessly side-tracked to make way for train after train
of soldiers and supplies hurrying north to the battle front
on the Piave. What they endured and the condition in
which they arrived can better be imagined than described.
And there was no welcome awaiting them. They found
themselves among strangers, often speaking a different
dialect, by whom they were regarded almost as foreigners,
whose presence even was sometimes resented — so many
more mouths to feed in a hungry land. Why couldn't
they have remained at home ? And then they had to be
housed in whatever shelters could be found — in barracks,

ivftded territory 20S,213

ory cleared for new lighting area 87,562

^ brougfit in danger of constart air raids.. 131,000

RED OlOSS EMEBGKNCY CoMifiSSldiS'"

r deserted factories or requisitioned hotels or villas, always '
crowded, and promiscuously herded together. And worst
of all, they had nothing to do. All their old ties were
broken, their occupations gone. Their enforced idleness
was a menace to themaelvea as well as to the community in
which they were settled. The Government subsidy, of |

necessity meagre, barely sufficed to keep body and soul
together.

The Government, the various civil relief societies and
especially the Italian Red Cross, rose to the occasion and
did great work, and the people, once they bad recovered
from the shock and indignation caused by the first report
of the disaster, gave generously. But many of the things
imperatively needed, and needed at once, could not be bad
in Italy for love or money. Rarely has a nation been '

more in need or more deserving of help. Help must be i

given, not merely as a humanitarian measure, but also,
and chiefly, as a war measure. Imagine the discouraging
effect on a community, perhaps already somewhat dis-
affected towards the war, of the sudden appearance in its
midst of thousands of these tragic visitors, with their tales
of woe and defeat, and with nothing to do but talk of their
troubles.

When the first news of the disaster reached Rome, our I

Ambassador, Mr. Page, promptly grasping its significance
cabled to Washington and Paris for help. The response
was immediate. The War Council of the Red Cross *
placed at his disposal $250,000 for most pressing needs; 1

and an Emergency Commission under Major Carl Taylor
was dispatched from Prance. The feeling in Rome at the
time is shown in the brief telegram at once sent back to i

Paris : " The most pressing emergency of the war is here |

ia Italy. All forms medical and hospital supplies much i

needed. Refugee problem very great." On November

» Wlienerer througliout this book the words " tlie Red Cross " ap-
pear without further qualilicatioQ the American Bed Croaa ia meajit,
I ~* usage odiqited for brevity'a saJce. ^

M THS ▲MEBICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

4y the papers printed a message received from the Red
Cross Headquarters at Washington annoimcing the inten-
tion to send immediately a permanent commission, and
conveying assurance to the people of Italy that nothing
that could be done would be left undone to assure them
" in their present sacrifice and heroism of the cordial and
continued support in every possible way of the American
people." A telegram was sent to Paris asking for the sup-
plies most urgently needed and within thirty-six hours
after its receipt twenty-four cars were loaded and ready to
leave, though the departure of the train was delayed a few
days by the congestion of traffic. When once it left, per^
sonally conducted by a Red Cross representative, it got
through, in spite of all difficulties, in record time.

For relief work outside of Rome the services of the
American Consuls were immediately enlisted. They be-
came, in fact, the pioneer relief workers of the Red Cross
in their districts. The day of its arrival in Rome the
Commission had telegraphed to them for information as to
the number and condition of refugees^ and had sent money
to those in cities which were known to have pressing needs.
Their prompt response and the detailed information which
they sent in enabled the Commission to give efficient aid at
once throughout Italy.

The relief work naturally took different forms in dif-
ferent districts. The Consul at Venice finding that the
station canteen at Mestre, which had been giving food
and help to refugees and wounded soldiers, was about to
cease operations for lack of funds, arranged for its con-
tinuance imder the American flag. Venice had been
brought, by the establishment of the new line, dangerously
near the enemy guns and was exposed to constant raids.
The people were leaving as fast as means of transportation
could be found, and, as a first step in cooperating in an
orderly evacuation, he opened a Red Cross canteen at
"'gia.
3 Consul at Milan reported the most urgent need to

■crc

be the housing of refugees. He organized an active Red
Cross Committee, made up of prominent business men
resident in that city, and a club house was promptly
turned into an infirmary and home for refugee women and
children. A public kitchen was opened for refugees, and
plans were made for a canteen and rest house at the
station.

The Consul at Genoa, working with a similar committee
of Americans there, erected a chalet at the station, which
was used first for the service of refugees, afterwards for
that of troops in transit. Other Consuls organized the
distribution of clothing and food.

Italian institutions for the aid of refugees were assisted
with gifts of money, and the sum of a million lire was
given to the Comitato Romano Organizzazione Civile,
which had been most effectively carrying on relief work
for soldiers' families and was proposing to bring refugee
families within the scope of its activities. During the
month of November the sum of 460,835 lire was placed in
the hands of Consuls, either for their direct use, or for
transmission to local agencies, for relief work with refu-
gees.

"When the first call for help bad come the American
Kelief Clearing House had emptied its warehouse and
treasury, giving all that it had. It then turned its of&cea
over to the Emergency Commission and offered to put its
organization under its direction. Many of the members
assisted the Commission in its investigations and not a
few from that time onward became permanently associated
with the lied Cross in Italy. Meantime, the Clearing
House became the agent of the Red Cross in the Roman
District, much as the local committees of Americans in
Milan and Genoa were in their communities, and it was
given one himdred thousand lire at once for the purchase
of food and blankets for refugee relief work in the stations
at Rome. As an illustration of the work it did. let one
instance suffice. One afternoon at four o'clock, word was

28 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITAlT

received that 12,000 refugees would pass through the
Fortonaccio Station, a few miles out on the Boman
Campagna, the first train arriving at six. Within an hour
they had tie baggage car on the northbound Florence ex-
press loaded with supplies, — hama, sausages, chocolate,
and blankets, and thus had them at the Fortonaccio Station
before the arrival of the first refugee train.

One of the moat serious losses sustained in the retreat
was that of hospitals and hospital supplies. Not antici-
pating any break, the hospitals had been put well towards
the front. More than one hundred were lost and, in addi-
tion, two principal magazines of supplies, considerably
more than one-third of the entire medical equipment of the
war zone. By drawing on its warehouse in France, as
well as by purchase in Italy, the Ked Cross was able to
deliver many thousands of articles for hospital use.
There were already in existence many workrooms for the
making of surgical dressings and these were given back-
ing, which enabled them greatly to increase their output.
Seven hundred and fifty tons of hospital supplies were
ordered from America for immediate delivery, including
such items as 250 pounds of quinine, 15 tons of chloro-
form and 25 tons of ether, and all sorts of surgical in-
struments, — all articles which were greatly needed and
not to be procured in Italy. Plans were made for the gift
of ten complete field hospitals of fifty beds each, with an
overload capacity running as high as 350.

Five weeks after the Red Cross Commission reached
Rome, it was able to turn over to the Third Army, three
complete ambulance sections, each section being made up
of twenty ambulances, a staff car, a kitchen trailer, a motor
cycle and two camions. Each section comprised thirty-
three men, Americans who had seen service in France and
who came as volunteers. Fifty of the ambulances of this
service were given by the American Poets' Ambulance
'"'"-nmittee, which had made a still earlier gift of the same

BED CROSS EUEROEKCY COMMISSION 39

number to the Italian Army. In a picturesque courtyard
of an old Milan palace, gaily decked with crossed Italian
and American flags, the formal presentation took place in
the presence of a representative group of important civil
and military authorities. The cars were arranged in the
shape of a horseshoe, and in front, one hundred mem-
bers of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps for Italy, in
khaki, stood at salute as the bugle sounded and the Gen-
eral, sent to receive them in the name of the Third
Army, swung into the yard with his bodyguard of Bei^
eaglieri. Shortly afterwards the first section left the
yard with American flags flying and drew up for a few
moments in front of the famous old Gothic cathedral,
where the Mayor of Milan bade them farewell, and then
Btarted off for the battlefront, amidst the cheers of the
people.

Only a few days before, America had declared war on
Austria. The enthusiasm with which that news was re-
ceived in Italy was unbounded. It had come just at the
opportune time, when the depressing effects of the great
defeat were beginning to show most in the remoter districts,
and did much to counteract them and give the people re-
newed confidence in the justice of their cause and in its
inevitable triumph. There was a stirring demonstration
in Eome, where the crowd packed the square in front of
tiie American Embassy and all the streets leading up to
it. They had brought with them three wounded soldiers,
who were lifted from their carriage to the Embassy steps,
and when our Ambassador, who had endeared himself to
the people by his simplicity and friendliness, appeared
beside them and in a brief speech defined our common
ideals and pledged America's full support, he was given
a memorable ovation, which was an evidence at once of
the loyalty of the people and of their belief in America.
And to the crowd in Milan, following and cheering our
Ambulance Section as it started for the front, these young

30 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

men in khaki^ the first Americans to go into action in
Italj, were the visible evidence of the reality of America's
war with Austria.

A beginning was also made by the Emergency Com-
mission in the work for the comfort and recreation of the
soldiers, by means of canteens for the men on the way to
and from the front, and by means of gifts to the men in
the trenches. But, to the three members of the Com-
mission who went over Italy making a rapid survey of
conditions and carrying with them half a million lire to
enable them to give immediate aid whenever and wherever
they discovered most crying needs, what made the deepest
and most lasting impression was ^' the magnitude, the
seriousness and the heartrending tragedy of the refugee
problem." The chief efforts of the Emergency Commis-
sion were directed towards giving aid in the solution of
this problem.

The first rush of refugees was over in early December,
and the problem of aiding them in transit gave way to the
more difficult problems of relief in the places of settle-
ment, — helping to restore some semblance of normal con-
ditions. These covered the primary necessities of clothing
and food, the improvement of housing conditions and the
providing of employment. Assistance was given in all of
these directions. The Bed Cross also made substantial
contributions to Italian organizations and individuals
undertaking the care of refugee children. Thus funds
were given to the granddaughter of Garibaldi to open a
day nursery for them in Home, and to the daughter of
Lombroso for a home for refugee orphans in Turin.

Through the American Consul at Venice, the Eed Cross
cooperated with the local authorities in their plans for the
orderly evacuation of that city. Many thousands of
Venetian colonists were transferred to the towns along the
Adriatic, in the neighborhood of Kimini, and housed in
summer viiioo requisitioned for the purpose. These were
ken^ mble in industrial units and the equip-

CROSS EMEHGENCT COMttfSSfbK

ment of the ahops in which they had worked was fre-
quently transferred with them. For the benefit of these
colonists, the Red Crosa established a hospital in Rimini,
For carrying on the work of the Red Cross, warehouses
with a total capacity of fifty thousand tons were secured
in Rome, in the porta of entry, Genoa and Naples, and in
certain central points of distribution. Orders were placed
for three million lire worth of supplies in Italy; shipping
space for fifteen thousand tons was engaged in boats sail-
ing from Kew York prior to January first; and three
hundred tons of food supplies were started on the way
from Paris,

The aid which the Red Cross gave during its first seven
weeks in Italy was various, scattering, and immediate.
It was given at a time when it was necessary to strike at
once and strike hard. And that is what was done. The
French and English had been able to hurry troops to Italy,
which had established a second line defense, in case the
Piave line should not hold. We were not in a position
to assist in that way. We came through our Army of
Mercy — but we came.

One has nothing but admiration for the promptness and
efficiency with which Italy took hold of her refugee prob-
lem, dispersing hundreds of thousands of homeless citizens
throughout Italy with a minimum of delay in spite of in-
adequate railroad facilities which were already congested
by legitimate needs of war; for the systematic assistance
given them from the beginning to the end of their long
and painful journey, and for the arrangements made for
incorporating them into the communities to which they
were transferred. Equally deserving of admiration was
the assistance given by the Italian Red Cross, the various
civil welfare eoromittees, the special committees for
refugees, as well as the charitable organizations such as
I the Umanitaria of Milan, The American Red Cross was
I one agency of relief amongst others. It is hard to
I enumerate the things that it did without seeming to ex.-

82 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS D{ ITALY

aggerate their importance. It was all little enough in
comparison with what Italy herself was doing. But the
moral effect of the work of the Eed Cross was out of all
proportion to its relative amount. It was for the people
of Italy the immediate concrete evidence of the support of
America. What that meant is shown by a simple little
incident of the trip of our ambulance men, when, after
their long journey to Italy by way of Marseilles, they first
reached Italian soil. After crossing the border they
stopped and the Chief of the section descended from his
car. An old peasant woman rushed up to him, and, be-
fore he could stop her^ fell on her knees and caught his
hand and kissed it, exclaiming, " Thank God, America
has come ! ''

And that, in brief, is what the work of the Eed Cross
meant : it was palpable evidence of America's presence, of
her friendship, and of the earnestness of her purpose in
the war. The Italian people believed in America, in her
sense of justice, in her strength, in her unlimited re-
sources, and many there were who said in that hour of need
when the Red Cross worker appeared, ^^ Thank God,
America has cornel ''

CHAPTER III

Arrival of Permanent Commifision — Campidoglio . „

Plana and Ideals — Organization — Civilian Belief and i
" Inner IVont "

The Permanent Commissjon of the Red Cross, under
Colonel Perkins, consisting of thirty-one persons in all,
arrived in Rome on the 20th of December, 1917. Making
themselves familiar as rapidly as possible with what had
already been done, the new men began to assume their
accustomed duties as, one by one, the men from Francs
hurried back. Major Taylor, who had been Acting Com-
missioner of the temporary organization, upon whom de-
volved the chief responsibility for the extensive emergency
relief work which it had undertaken, and Colonel Bicknell
stayed on for some weeks in order to facilitate the merg-
ing of the old commission into the new, oi', as it came to
be officially known, the Permanent Commission, and in
order to give its members time to get their bearings and
make their plans.

Officially the history of the Permanent Commission be-
gins on the first of January, 1918, but should you ask its
members when its history starts, the date that stands out
vividly in their memory is the day of the inaugural cere-
mony, just two weeks later, in the Senate Chamber in the
ancient Campidoglio on the Capitoline Hill. Here were
gathered ministers of state, senators, deputies, members
of the Diplomatic Corps, all conspicuous figures in the
histoiy of the day, crowding the great, high-domed Hall
of Senators, to join in the official welcome of Italy to the
Permanent Commiaaion of the American Red Cross ex-
tended by the Mayor of Rome, Prince Colonna, and by

ERIC^ itED CRD^S" tiJ ItIlT

Deputy Nitti, Minister o£ the Treasury, and Senatfl
MsTconi of wireless fame. On a Bmall plalfonn in seren
gilt chairs sat the men whom the others had come to see
and hear, and standing behind them in their khaki uni-
forms were officers of the Red Cross. High above hung
many flags, banners of the Gonfalonieri, and all around,
filling the amphitheatre, were distinguished men and
women who responded with enthusiasm to every mention of
America and every tribute to the Red Cross. The thought
that runs through all these speeches, variously expressed,
is the friendship of Italy for America and her strengthened
confidence in the righteousness of her cause and in its ulti-
mate triumph, due to America's support. With America's
entrance, says the Mayor in effect, the civilized world was
united in the fight for liberty and the independence of
peoples. Senator Marconi, speaking from his personal ex-
perience and paying a lofty tribute to the idealism and
innate love of liberty and fair play which he had foimd
in America adds, " The friendship of America in this
struggle is particularly dear to Italy." And Minister
Nitti sums it up in this striking phrase: " In great crises
it is not numbers only that count, nor yet mere physical
bravery, but rather the confidence that comes from the
knowledge that our cause is the cause of our friends, and
that, in serving it, our hearts are united with theirs in de-
votion to common ideals."

The sincere and spontaneous demonstration in the Hall
of the Senators that day was at once a tribute to the work
that had been done and a challenge to the men who had
come to continue iU It was a memorable and moving
Bcene. What made it impressive was not merely the
gathering of notables, nor the warm words of welcome
and friendship, but the total setting in this historic spot,
the Campidoglio, which in a way, epitomizes the whole
story of Italy and Rome, ancient and modern — this hill
tiiat has seen Rome rise and fall and rise again, that has
jations come and go. It was as if the hand .

ASRTVAL OF PERMANENT COMMISSION S5

of the past were reaching out to take up the troubles of
to-day and out of them fashion the glories of to-morrow;
as if a new birth in friendship and good will among na-
tions, based upon mutual understanding and sealed in the
service of common ideala, were at hand. The representa-
tives of the Eed Cross, who had received this tribute in the
name of America, came away from the meeting at ouce in
an exalted and in a chastened frame of mind, and with a
clearer vision of the task before them. Ideals and plans
that had slowly been taking shape, became defined, prin-
ciples plain. It is in order to enumerate here some of
these, for they guided the work of the Commission
throughout its stay in Italy. First, the spirit in which the
work was undertaken and carried out was that of modesty,
one might almost say humility. America had not come
through the Red Cross in a sense of superiority to " show
Italy how." Nor had she come to rescue a " demoralized "
nation. Admiring what Italy had accomplished, and ap-
preciating what she had endured, the Red Cross had come
in simple justice and in the spirit of friendship to help
bear the heavy burdens of the war which Italy had been
carrying for two and a half years with such courage.
Moreover the individual members of the organization were
eimply instrimienta to carry out the will of the army of
Hed Cross subscribers and workers at home — specially
privileged in having this opportunity of service. It mat-
tered not at all whether Smith or Jones did the job, so it
were done. Name and fame should be forgot. The
second principle that governed the activity of the Com-
mission throughout was belief in Italy and especiaDy in
the people of Italy. This attitude not only bad its effect
npon the extent of cooperation with Italians and Italian
organizations, but also upon the character and spirit of
the work itself and the response which it called forth.
For it is as true in Italy as it is in America, that belief
in the people is always justified of its fruits,

rurtijermore, from the first the work was conacioualy

S AMERICAN BED CE0S3 IN ITALY

^P and deliberately put upon a " win the war " baaia. This

IB, indeed, a characteristic of Red Croas work which has
developed in this war and considerably changed the char-
acter and significance of the Red Cross. Originally it was
I a non-combatant organization for the relief of suffering,
treating all alike and knowing no enemies. One still
thinks of the Red Croaa as primarily concerned with re-
lief for the wounded and the sick among the soldiers.
This ia, however, nowadays but a small part of its activity.
There are other wounds besides those made by enemy guns,
wounds that reach the entire civilian population. And

■ every soldier at the front is linked by ties of affection to
those at home, his mother, his wife, his children. Their
wounds are his wounds. If they are neglected his courage
is sapped. In a word, this war has brought into prom-
inence the importance of what the Italians call the " inner
front" (il fronte intemo). The army is the nation, not
merely the men in the trenches, and the work of the Red
Cross must be correspondingly extended. It is its task to
heal the wounds on the " inner front." And here, as with
the soldier, the wounds may be of the spirit as well as of the
body. This measures the responsibility which the Com-
mission undertook. It was necessary for the Red Cross
to go forth to all parts of Italy with healing on its wings,

I relieving war suffering and strengthening the courage of
the civilian population by spreading the knowledge of
America's presence and determination and readiness to
help to the limit of her resources, and putting new heart
into them by making them realize that a friend stood ever
at their aide,

I It was a big undertaking. Obviously the first thing
necessary was to recruit a force to carry it through, and
that at onee. The Commission set out to enlist the serv-
ices of available Americans who were on the ground,
artists, connoisseurs and dilettanti, and men and women
of leisure who bad made Italy their home, Americans mar-
ried to Italians, travellers caught and held by the war,-

here a professor of Logic from a Western University, there
a chorus girl who had sung in a popular light opera, here
a well known impresario, there a singer who as Carmen
or A'ida had delighted audiences at the Metropolitan, etc.,
ete., and large drafts were made on the students and teach-
ing force of the American Academy at Rome, It was, in-
deed, a motley company, but united in devotion and good
will. So the organization grew by leaps and hounds, keep-
ing pace with the rapidly growing work. The few rooms
kindJy given by the Banca Commerciale were soon out-
grown and headquarters established in a commodious
building on Via Sicilia, formerly used as a pension much
frequented by Americana. The Red Cross was hardly
established in its new quarters before they were outgrown,
and a large building next door, once a Russian Club, was
annexed. The same story was repeated here. The Red
Cross then took over a Hotel on Via Sardegna whose
Beven floors seemed ample for any contingency, but were
flh-eady proving inadequate when the Armistice put an end
to further expansion. In the meantime the number of
Red Cross workers had grown from 32 to 949, not in-
cluding the Italians enrolled, approximately 1000 more.
It should be added, however, to show the difficulties which
the Commission had to face, that it was more than six
months before the force of trained bookkeepers, account-
ants, stenographers, etc., was adequate to needs.

The work was organized with the usual triple division
into Civil Affairs, Military Affairs, and Medical Affairs.
Back of these was the Department of Administration.
Each of these departments was under a Deputy Commifr-
sioner. The Department of Administration included
Stores and Transportation, Purchasing, Accounting, and
Puhlic Information, each of these divisions having its
separate responsible Director. In the early fall, with the
arrival of the Tuberculosis Unit, a Department of Tuber-
culosis was added. For convenience of administration,
Italy was divided into a number of districts, corresponding

88 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

more or less roughly with the political divisions of the
country: Avellino, Bari, Bologna, Florence, Genoa,
Iglesias (Sardinia), Milan, ^Naples, Padua, Palermo,
Beggio Calabria, Eimini, Eome, Taormina, Turin, and
Venice. This was a sort of Federal system. The Red
Cross delegate in each district became the responsible head
of the Red Cross in his territory, representing all depart-
ments. While he was under general control of the De-
partment of Administration at Rome, he was given a large
amount of independence — a plan of organization which
proved most effective, expediting action, minimizing red
tape and encouraging initiative.

One of the first problems that had to be faced was that
of the storage and shipment of supplies which soon be-
gan to arrive in great quantities from America — hospital
supplies of all sorts, food, clothing, and raw materials.
The goods, arrived at the port of entry, were promptly
distributed to warehouses and branch depositories through-
out Italy, whence they could, at a moment's notice, be re-
distributed to any part of the country, to meet emergency
needs. The number of warehouses grew to 59 before the
war was over, with a capacity ample for all requirements.

Italy's transportation facilities are scarcely adequate in
times of peace, and in war, in spite of all restrictions on
civilian use, they were strained to the limit. Red Cross
material came under the head of war necessities and the
Government gave every assistance possible for facilitating
transportation. It carried Red Cross supplies (and for
that matter, personnel as well, when on service) free of
charge. But to meet the emergency sure to arise in times
of special military activity with its increased demands on
transportation facilities, an automobile freight service was
established, which made the Red Cross independent of the
railway; a system of automatic relays from one distribut-
ing center to another was worked out whereby supplies in
large quantities could rapidly be concentrated in time of
nee^ istricts near the front without interfering

a,\\frican red-cross;.
- ^initaly"

'?\ '*»- STORES
AND
:. %TRANSPORTATION

An automobile freight service was establi-hod wliiili unit,
Red CroBS iiidepcii(lr>nt of the railuHV The hiero};!} phu '
dicate the numlier of warehouses, camionB, eeriicG lare
motor cycleG at each center.

^^^^ABRTVAL OF PERMANENT COMMISSION ^^^^^H

H^tH the regular work of the Red Cross in other parts of ^^^H
^^taly, a system which proved its value at the time of the ^^^
great Italian Offensive in October. The accompanying
map will tell the story better than any verbal description.
The Temporary Commission had been chiefly concerned
with the Emergency Relief of refugees. This work was
continued by the Permanent Commission and gradually
merged into the activities imdertaken for the general re-
lief of soldiers' families. For some months, however, after
the Caporetto retreat the military situation remained un-
certain, and the Italian government continued moving the
civilian population out of the districts threatened by
further enemy attacks. This was an orderly migration as
compared with the early rush of refugees, but scarcely
less distressing. To alleviate hardships of the journey,
the Red Cross, in addition to its station canteens, estab-
lished rest houses near the station at certain transfer
points such as Bologna and Villa San Giovanni, where
travel-worn women and children might refresh themselves
before continuing their hard journey. The Red Cross
also aided in many ways in making it possible for the
refugees, torn from their familiar occupations and sur-
roundings and transplanted in strange lands, to take up
once more the thread of life in conditions as nearly like
the normal as possible. It was necessary that they should
be self-supporting, not weakened and demoralized by a
dangerous dependence, that their children should continue
their studies that had been interrupted by the enemy
cannon, and that family life should continue unshaken.
And so the Red Cross established schools and workshops
and sewing rooms. The clothing made in the sewing
rooms was sold at nominal prices to the refugees them-
selves or to the poor families of soldiers. Where the
women came from Venice and were proficient in the art
of lace making, lace shops were established. Those skilled
in shoe making, such aa the peasants from FriuH, were
I . enabled to cootinue the manufacture of Triulian shoes

THE AMERICAN KED CROSS IN if AL^'

V and filippers. The quarters to which the refugees were '
assigned were in many cases remodelled and equipped to
make them suitahle for family life. For example, at
Chiaravalle an old disused paper mill was divided into
apartments by means of masonry partitions, was provided
with sanitary arrangements and with a commimity kitchen
where the meals of all the refugees were cooked, each fam-
ily being assigned its particular stove and floor space. In
Naples the Hotel Victoria was equipped and arranged for
the same purpose.

One of the most interesting refugee colonies was that at
Leghorn, known as the Spreziano colony. The entire
town of Spreziano on the upper Piave, both inhabitants
and industries, was transplanted bodily 300 miles across
Italy and established in a group of unfinished and un-
furnished villas on a hillside near Leghorn. These villas
had no conveniences nor furnishings of any kind, lacking
even chimneys and window sashes. They were remodelled
and partly furnished by the Ked Cross. Near by was a
large modern chateau, requisitioned by the Government
from its German owner, in which the American organ-
ization established schools for the children, workshops and
sewing rooms and a public soup kitchen. Besides the ele-
mentary school studies, the older girls were taught sewing
and lace making, and the boys were apprenticed in near
by carpenter and blacksmith shops. As shoe making had
been one of the principal industries in the far away village
on the upper Piave, one of the first activities opened here
by the Red Cross was a shoe factory, in which many
women of the colony were employed during the day, while
in adjoining rooms their children attended school.

One of the most novel and certainly the most extensive
tmdertaking of the Red Cross for the care of refugees
was the construction of a Venetian village under the walls
of old Pisa. Its story is the story of a village that failed,
failed at least in its original purpose, through unforeseen
Bad voidable complications. It was an undertaking

ABRIVAL OP PERMANENT COMMISSION

tiiat ■will appeal to Americans, not only because the idea
back of it was big and generous, but also because the
refugees to be helped were driven from a town which is
especially dear to them. Venice, it must be rBmembered,
had been brought within the fighting zone. She was ex-
posed at all times to attack from land and sea, and every
moon was a signal for a succession of bombardments from
the air. Her industries were shut down, her shops closed,
communication with the outside world waa difficult and
food exceedingly scarce,

Now the Venetian authorities had from the beginning
been transplanting the civilian population to places of
safety in colonies, as far as it was possible to do so. By
keeping them together and transplanting with them their
industries, conditions of life in a strange land became more
tolerable. This plan had been carried out quite exten-
sively along the shores of the Adriatic where there were
many empty villas which could be requisitioned for the
purpose. And sites for additional colonies for refugees
were early sought in Liguria and elsewhere. But old
communities have a limited capacity to absorb unbidden
guests. Also they differ much in the kind of a recep-
tion which they give them. For example, a worker in the
early days, writing from one of the communities where
ten thousand refugees had been established, reported:
" The surrounding country does not supply much and the
peasants have met with a most resentful spirit the Gov-
ernment's attempt to commandeer their potatoes, beans,
etc. The influx of this vast number of new mouths here
has caused something like panic among the peasants and
working classes, who seem to fear that they will starve
owing to this invasion. Any wrong move would precipi-
tate grave trouble." At the same time in another town
the situation was reported as most satisfactory : " There
is an exceedingly patriotic spirit here among the better
families, and although the town is not large nor wealthy,
they have organized their relief work to meet the sudd(

42 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

crisis with great efficiency. Eight hundred refugees are
quartered here permanently. Their needs in clothing,
blankets, and material are great. They are almost en-
tirely of the peasant or lower classes. They sleep on
mattresses, stuffed with straw, on boards. The courage,
patience and good will of these people is surprising.
They have organized their establishments with rough
kitchens, wash-houses, and wash-rooms. The women are
making sand bags for the trenches at the front. Many
of the men have found employment in the town, and the
children are returning to tiie schools. All seems promis-
ixig for the future."

Even the most public spirited communities, however,
early reached the limit of their capacity. In the mean-
time, the evacuation of Venice continued. Towards the
end of February our representative, the American Consul,
wrote : " It is not a question as to whether it would be
best for these people to move or not. They are going.
You cannot keep a population in a town a few miles from
the front, where it cannot support itself, and where it is
continually bombarded from the skies, and may at any
moment be bombarded from land, or sea, or both, and
where an enemy offensive would complicate and intensify
all of the difficulties. If present conditions continue,
more than fifteen thousand people, without visible means
of support, will leave Venice within a short time.'^

It was accordingly suggested that the Red Cross should
go into a new field of activity which meant nothing more
nor less than the construction of a town for these refugees.
It was thought that they could be housed in tents or tarred
paper barracks which could have been rapidly set up.
Everything must be ready before the March moon, that
is, before the next bombardment from the air. The Red
Cross agreed to undertake the work. Then followed a
series of delays. It was found that the plan to use tents
or build Ai^nsy temporary shelters was not feasible. It
wf»^ uded to build more permanent shelters.

^^^^^ ARRIVAL OF PERMANENT COMMISSION ^'^^l

^H using a kind of cement brick made in the valley af^^^|

^" Pompeii almost adjoining the city that waa bnried under ^

the ashes of Vesuvius 2,000 years ago, and out of lapillo,

a kind of stone erupted by that volcano. Not only the

Xarch, but also the April moon had come and gone be-

■ fore the contract was signed.
A tract of twenty-five acres was secured, requisitioned
by the Italian Government for the purpose, just outside
the walls of Pisa. It is picturesquely situated with the
mountains rising in the near distance on one side, and on
the other, the town of Pisa with its roofs showing above

■ the famous Medicean aqueduct built four hundred years
ago. The plan was to construct a village here which '

would accximmodate two thousand refugees and could later
be expanded if that proved desirable. It was to be a
village of bungalows, eighty in all, sub-divided into apart-
ments of varying sizes, with plenty of garden space for
each family. In addition there were to be eleven other

I buildings for community use, a kitchen, a school, a store,
a hospital, a day nursery, a laundry, public lavatories,
etc. There was to be a public square and playground.
In short, it was to be a model village.
When the contract was signed it was hoped that the
work would be completed by the first of August. There
were, however, further delays, partly due to causes such
as are apt to arise anywhere and any time, partly due
to conditions created by the war. The Armistice found
the village still uncompleted. It will never be needed for
its original purpose. It has been turned over to the
Italian government, which will probably use it as a home
for the re-ediication of the mutilated victims of the war.
It was a bold undertaking and appealed to the imagina-
tion. There was something typically American about
this plan to construct a little Venetian village, complete in
every detail, which might give the refugees who were for-
tunate enough to be sent there, normal conditions of liv-
ing, in healthful and attractive surroundings; and after-

44 THE AMERICAN BED CB6SS IN ITALY

wards, when the war was over and they had returned, still
serve some worthy Eed Cross purpose in times pf peace.

At the time that the work was begun no one dreamed
that it w^s only a question of months when hostilities
would cease. No doubt, could the early ending of the
war have been foreseen, many plans would have been
different. Perhaps this village would not have been
undertaken. It is barely possible that the Commission
might have attempted to save time by putting up a lot
of wooden shacks like those we sent in large numbers
to Messina after the earthquake. But — have you seen
Messina recently? Those sheds are still there. That
once beautiful city is now a shanty town through our aid,
an ugly blotch on the fair face of Sicily. Would you
have Pisa, the beautiful old town on the banks of the
Amo bristling with historic memories and rich in price-
less treasures of art, similarly marred ? There stands the
famous old leaning tower as it has stood for centuries,
bending over the city as if with friendly eye to keep
jealous guard of its honor. We can easily imagine his
bending over a little farther to watch with mingled
curiosity and suspicion this American experiment in town
building just beyond the old city wall. But the sight
of a city of wooden shacks would have given such a blow
to his pride that it must surely have sent him toppling
from his base. The thing could not be done in old Pisa.
It is well since the after-war use must now be the justi-
fication of the two million lire which the village has cost
that the Eed Cross has left a durable and worthy monu-
ment.

The workshops and sewing rooms which had been
originally established to meet the refugee emergency were
gradually reorganized and enlarged to meet the more gen-
eral conditions of distress caused by the war. It must be
borne in mind that it was at no time any part of the task
of the Tl(>A Cross to attenipt to cope with the problem of

Prom first to last its work was war work,

ARRIVAL OF PERMANENT COMMISSION 45 '

and win-the-war work, and everything that was undertaken
for civilian relief had for its object healing the wounds
of war on the " inner front," and thus helping to create
that serenity of mind and confidence which were essential
to victory. And so no one was employed in a Red Cross
workroom who was not either a refugee or a member of a
soldier's family unable to get other work and in special
need because the family bread-winner waa fighting for us
all at the front.

As has been said, workrooms for the making of
were early established for the women proficient in
art among Venetian refugees on the shores of the Adriatic
And there were two in Sicily for the making of Cin-
quecento lace, for which the people of that country are
famous. Generally in connection with these workrooms
there were schools where young girls might learn the art.
And there were shops for woodwork, basket work and
the making of mattresses from sea-weed, and one where
flags were made. But by far the greatest number of work-
rooms were for the making of shoes and clothing needed
for the children in the care of the Red Cross. And thus
the money expended was made to do double service, giving
employment and at the same time providing the articles
which would otherwise have had to be bought. As leather
was scarce and dear what might be called substitute shoes
were made in most of the shops, such as the Capri type
■with rope soles, or the Friuli type with soles made of
scraps of cloth quilted together. Then there were the
native zoccoli, a kind of footwear resembling Chinese
sandals except that the soles were made of hawthorn wood
and had heels. It was surprising to see the way the
children conld run in this impossible and loosely attached
footwear without shedding the shoes as they ran. Their
progress was in marked contrast with the sedate shuffle
and cautions dogtrot of Chinese children in their san-
dals. By June the sewing rooms were all converted into
ahops for the making of children's garments, except

5Cial I

r U8 I

lac^^l
thai^H
atic ^^^

jl ahops for the making of children's garments, except d

THE AMERICAN RED CKObS IN ITALY

that there were certain by-products, for, it being impop-
tant to economize in material, much ingenuity waa shown
in utilizing odds and ends. For example, in the work-
room in Taormina, out of the new material the garments
were cut, then the larger scraps were used in making
hats, and then the nest smaller in making soles for
Friulian shoes, then of the narrow strips rag rugs were
made, and finally the last remnants were chopped up and
used for pillows and mattresses.

An idea of the extent of this work is best gained by
looking ahead to the final figures reported. There were
in all 88 workrooms established by the Hed Cross in Italy,
employing nine thousand women. The total number of
articles produced was approximately a million and a half,
with a consumption of two million and a quarter metres
of cloth.

The garments were given to the people directly under
the care of the Red Cross, in refugee homes, orphanages,
and day nurseries ; or to Italian organizations caring for
war children; or to needy families whose cases had been
specially investigated. But in general it was found to
make for a better spirit if the distribution, outside of Red
Cross institutions and similar Italian organizations, was
on a paid basis, and accordingly the surplus would be
sold for a nominal figure much below the actual coat —
a few cents a garment. But again, such sales were only
made to refugees and soldiers' families whose needs had
been investigated. To help the women whose wage earn-
ing had to be done in odd moments of household duties,
yarn was given out for the knitting of socks and sweaters,
and the women were paid for the work according to
schedules fixed by the Government. The pay in the Red
Cross workrooms was always at the rate prevailing in the
2tive communities, as was obviously desirable, and
ranged from two to three and a half lire a day. But not
infrequently the women workers were given tike privilege
of buying the midday meal at nominal cost in one of the

ARRIVAL OP PEitMANENT COICMISSIOH'

Red Cro33 eeoDomie kitchens. The workrooma
always light, airy and cheerful, aud pervaded by an
atmosphere of friendlinesa which made them more like
social centers than ordinary shops. And to them could not
infrequently he traced an improved tone in the general
life of the communities in which they were established.

It was the uniform policy of the Red Cross in its activi-
ties to fall in line with Italian usage. One of the moat
widespread means of poor relief in Italy has long been
the economic kitchen. This is a place where deserving
poor can procure prepared food at or slightly below cost.
Social reformers have questioned the wisdom of this
method of dealing with the problem of the poor, but no
one could question its value and effectiveness in times of
war in an impoverished nation when abnormally high
prices and reduced earning capacity meant that for a large
number of people the wolf was alwaya looking in at the
door. So the Red Cross contributed to this form of re-
lief 30 far aa it affected the refugees and families of
soldiers both by aiding existing Italian institutions and
by starting independent kitchens where need was great-
est. Every case was investigated, generally in coopera-
tion with Italian authorities and a ticket (tessera) given
to those entitled to receive food indicating the number
of rations which the holder could procure. At the noon
hour at each of these kitchens the line would form of old
men, women, and children, carrying all manner of bizarre
receptacles to receive the midday meal, which consisi
of the thick and savory and nourishing " soup," or m
eetra, concocted on scientific dietary principles, contaii
ing beans or peas or rice, with tomato sauce and greens
and fat and usually meat. The barreled beef and par-
ticularly the lard and clear-belly bacon sent in such large
quantities from America proved a godsend to the people
for whom these foods bad become all but unobtainable.
Fifty soup kitchens in all came under the care of the Red
Cross, dispensing most of the time an average of approzi-

OJd

irre ii

; M

lio^^^H

ens ^^^

48 THE AMEBICAN BED CROSS IN HALT

mately thirty thousand rations a day. Two cents were
paid for a generous portion. In cases of special poverty
it was given free. Uncooked food was also distributed
to a limited number of investigated families in certain re-
gions where special conditions prevailed, but this was
not done to any large extent until after the armistice, and
in the liberated territories.

For refugee children whose normal life had been so
suddenly and harshly interrupted the Red Cross estab-
lished schools, providing teachers and equipment as well
as food and clothing, the older children being in many
cases given industrial training in addition to the regular
schooling. These schools were established where the local
accommodations were inadequate to meet the increased
demand due to the great influx of refugees. In some sec-
tions, Genoa, Naples, and Avellino, there were day nur-
series for the babies of refugee mothers who were earning
a livelihood in Red Cross workrooms.

But almost from the first the care of children was
not confined to refugees. The Italians have long been
familiar with an institution which they call asilo, a sort
of combination of day-nursery and kindergarten. Here
children from three to six years of age are kept during
the day, provided with food and clothing and given in-
struction suitable to their years, leaving their mothers
free to work. But war conditions and the difficulty of
getting food had forced retrenchments just at the time
when need was greatest. Italy has always been rich in
children, — it is her never-failing crop — and in their
lives the pinch of war was most keenly felt. Here was
the opportunity for the Red Cross not only to help the
children, undernourished and often sickly, to get a start
in life along the roadway of health, but also to cheer and
encourage through its efforts the soldier father at the
front, while at the same time freeing the mother to take
his place as the family bread-winner. Accordingly some
of the ** ' * HP struggling institutions were aided, many

VAL OF PERMANENT COMMl!

^V were taken over bodily, and more were independently
I, tablished. In every case the community cooperated, sup-
plying the quarters and care and sometimes the teacher.
Buildings would be made over by the Ked Cross, provided
with modern sanitary arrangements and the rooms made
bright and cheerful and furnished with blackboards and
kindergarten supplies. Here the children of soldiers in
need of care were gathered together and clothed and fed
and given a play-leader. After the midday meal came
the inevitable nap, Bometimes in cribs, sometimes in
cradles supplied by the mothers, sometimes on mattresses
on the floor, but most often sitting at their desks, their
heads resting on folded arms. Generally in the after-
noon they were given milk and a piece of white bread
("American cake" the children christened it) made with
flour brought f rom_ America for the purpose. In the Pon-
tine Marsh district south of Rome there were twelve of
these asili for soldiers' children whose mothers worked
in the fields far below the towns perched on the hill-
tops where the menace of the malarial mosquito of the
marshea had forced them to make their homes. The prob-
lem of getting food had been particularly difficult here
and the children, under-nourished and anemic, fell eaay
victims to malaria and influenza. More than one marble
tablet has been erected in appreciation of the work, dedi-
cated (to give a sample inscription) " To the imperishable
memory of the glorious deeds for human brotherhood
gracefully accomplished by the American Eed Cross."

Not all of the asili were run on the same plan. For
example in Aasisi which particularly auifered during the
war from the absence of tourists, where eztreme poverty
had left its mark in the pinched faces and pallid cheeks
of the half-clad children swarming as of yore in the nar-
row streets and public squares, older children were in-
cluded in the Red Cross fold. There were three hundred
in all, and every morning they were taken in groups for
Tecreation to the bills above the town, the hills where St-

^V Francis i

^* llloi-1lJ fit

THU AMBBICAK RED CROSS IN ITALY

Francis received his spiritual message. It seemed partio-

ularlj fitting that the Red Cross should put forth its beat
efforta in the birthplace of that gentle-aouled saint whose
creed it was to minister to the poor and suffering. In some
of the asili the Montessori method was used. And had
you chanced to go to Genoa you might have found an
asilo including children younger than usual, housed in a
building that before the war had been a German club.
Here babies' prattle and children's laughter filled the
rooms that once had resounded to the heavy German gut-
tural voices toasting, perhaps, " the Day " that forced so
much suffering on the world and crowded the sunshine
out of so many children's lives. A large sandpile under
the shade of the cypress trees on a shelf cut into the moun-
tain side overlooking the bay of Genoa was the children's
special delight. But you could hardly believe that these
cheerful chubby babies were the little starvelings that had
come under Ked Cross care only a few months before.

No part of the work undertaken for the civilian popu-
lation in Italy was so much appreciated by the people;
and none has given so much satisfaction to the Ked Cross
workers, for the beneficial results were immediate and
striking, and the gratitude of mothers and of whole com-
munities most touching. Besides, the children themselves,
generally pretty and alert and intelligent, always well be-
haved and responsive, were a continual source of delight.
And it is probably safe to assume that no undertaking
of the Red Grose will meet with more general approval
from the millionfl of Americans whose contributions made
it possible. The total number of children aided by the
E^ Cross directly or in cooperation with Italian organi-
sations during its stay in Italy was 154,704 up to the time
of the armistice and fully one-third of these were in schools
and ofiili.'

1 The A. E. C. also from time to time gare clothing and food (gen-

■ally milii and white flour) to more than 600 Italian organizations

tor the care f' -'•''■^Ten. Theee are not included in the above figures.

ABHTVAL OF PERMANENT COMMISSION

By the time summer had come you could ecarci
to any part of Italy without stumbling across an asilo in^
front of whose door the Stars and Stripes and the flagi
of Italy were entwined. Let it be known in advance that^
the Red Cross representative was coming and likely a^
not the whole town would turn out to meet him, headed
ly the Mayor and other officials. Then would come the
inevitable ceremony at the asilo. Little Maria, age five,
Tvould step forward and recite a patriotic poem tellings
«f the wrongs done by Italy's enemies and ending bravely,
" But we will chase them from our land," and the tiny
hand would shoot out as if in banishment of the foe.
And then Eeppino, fat and solemn, would make a speech
giving his own story as a refugee child, or perhaps proudly
telling of his father at the front, never forgetting to voice
the gratitude felt by them all to the American people,
and always speaking with the graceful gesture and self-
possession of the seasoned orator. Then there would be
cheers for America and the Red Cross, and invariably,
somewhere in the proceedings, the Star Spangled Banner
(II Veasillo Stellate) sung with much gusto. Tor Cap-
tain Perret, who before the war was an expert on volcanoes,
whose favorite haunt was the crater of Vesuvius, but who
as a Red Cross worker had found a rival for his affec-
tions in the children of our Naples schools, translated the
first and last verses into singable Italian, and now our
national anthem is known and sung by the children all over
Italy.

Of the appreciation of this work by the men at the front
there have come innumerable evidences. In one asilo near
Milan, the directress brought out for the Red Cross in-
spectors to see a stack of over a hundred letters and post-
cards which the soldier fathers bad sent to their children
in her care. The following is a literal translation of one
of them. It is longer than moat and better expressed, but
similar eentiments run through them all:

52 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

*' Dear Leonardino : How glad my heart is to receive
your card, in which you tell me that you are happy to be
at the asilo of the American Red Cross. I loiow that
your mother is also happy to know that you are safe,
far from danger. Yes, my dearest, the news makes me
very happy. No longer am I disturbed by the sad
thought of having left my family voluntarily, in order to
defend our dear fatherland, because you, my angel, my
consolation, are safe, nourished by good soup and sweet
milk.

" Is it not enough that I am sure that you are being
taught at the asilo, among other beautiful things, to pray
for your father, and to be always grateful to those who
give you aid, and to love your dear motherland? My
Leonardino, you must realize that the good Americans,
defenders of oppressed peoples against barbarous enemies,
have come from a very far country to give us every sort
of help, to relieve so much suffering, and to hasten the
day of victory. Our greatest thanks will always be in-
ferior to their merits. And you, my baby, are enjoying
the benefits of their great generosity.

" When the American gentlemen come to the asilo, you
my pretty little child, should clap your hands for them
and shout : ^ Long live America, Long live Wilson, Long
live Italy.' Your father kisses you tenderly."

There are many war orphans in Italy. But since the

work of the Red Cross is of a temporary and emergency

character orphanages have not been established except in

a few cases (Cesenatico, Aosta, Aquila) where conditions

were such as to insure either their continuance after the

departure of the Red Cross or the care of the children

by local agencies. It has preferred, instead, to help in

this direction by giving aid to already established Italian

^izations.

^re were, however, certain groups of children that

not be cared for in any conventional type of institu-

ABBIVAL OF PEEMAKBNT COMMISSION

' tion, children who, in the rush of refugees, had become
separated from fathers and mothers whose fate was often
unknown, and others whose mothers had died or become
incapacitated while their fathers were still in military
service, A home was eatablished for fifty of these home-
less boys at Trevi in a beautiful old building, formerly
a school for Austrian priests, and here in addition to their
regular studies, they were trained in carpentry and agri-
culture. An agricultural school was planned for a similar
group at Collestrada, near Perugia.

Probably the most interesting school of this sort was
the one at Monteporzio, just above Frascati, established
by the Prefect, and later taken over and enlarged by the
Eed Cross. Here in a fine old seventeenth century mon-
astery, on a terrace commanding a fine view of the Roman
Campagna, eighty-six refugee boys between the ages of
eight and fourteen were cared for, their teachers, and like-
wise the nuns who did the housework, being also refugees.
They were given all the advantages of the modem school
and there were classes in drawing and painting, in which
some showed considerable aptitude. They were also given
military training and in their American Boy Scout uni-
forms would drill and parade on the avenues of the
monastery grounds, or, on special occasions, might be
Laeen marching along the streets of Rome. It was hard
I to realize, seeing these little refugees playing happily in
P their new home, that they had lately witnessed scenes of
death and destruction that must have left an indelible
mark on their souls. Here and there, however, would be
one whose laughter could not drive away the haunted
look from the eyes. One of these, a boy of eight, never
quite succeeded in forgetting the tragedy which had aged
him beyond his years.

At two o'clock one morning in the far north, at a school
where he had been sent by his parents from a small neigh-
boring town, he was awakened by the cries of the soldiers
and the yiolent ringing of church bells : " The Austrian'

THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

are coming, flee for your lives ! " Little Mariano, with
some fiirty schoolmateB, hurriedly dressed, rushed into the
street and started southward in the terrible flight. Ninety
kilometers they walked in a very bedlam of confusion,
men and women screaming, cannon booming and shells
exploding all about. Finally at the railway station they
were hurried into waiting cattle cars and then, just when
danger seemed past, the train itself was bombarded by
the guns of the enemy, and of these sixty boys but five
escaped uninjured, many being killed outright. " Only
five, and I was one of them, Signore," says little Mariano,
dropping his head. For some time he wandered from
town to town until at length he was picked up by a priest,
himself a fugitive, and finally he found his way to Monte-
porzio, the school for refugee boys that had just been
foimded. There is one bright spot in little Mariano's
story. For one day among the new boys to enter the
school was a fine looking youth of fourteen, who proved to
be none other than Mariano's own brother of whom he
had had no word for seven months. It was a dramatic
and touching reunion.

Some of these little fellows have been left in complete
ignorance of the whereabouts of their parents. Signora
KipoBtelli, who had charge of the boys before the Red Cross
took over the school, tells how one day when walking with
her charges she missed two of the smaller boys and finally
traced them to a small roadside chapel. There from within
she heard a small voice raised earnestly: " Listen, these
violets are not for Signora Eipostelli, I want to leave
them for the Madonna, because ^e might find my parents."

Celebnting the ArmiTersary of America's DecUration of
War — Cash DiBtrihutione to Soldiers' Familiea — Mr. DaTi-
bod'b visit — Meeting in ColosBeum — Station CacteeDS

I " Itaty will never get over this defeat. — Now wa't*
I got the Allies." So we are told the Kaiser exclaimed,
exulting over Caporetto, No doubt he understood th«
psychology of his own people and was misled thereby. In
truth, the mettle of a nation, as of an individual, is shown
by the way it responds to d^eat. The coward, the savags
and the slavish cry and throw up their bands and sur-
render, and then trust to tricks and wiles and crooked
ways to pull a victory out of defeat. The brave and the
free set their jaws, gird up their loins, and with fresh,
determination, return to the fray. Italy, tried by thifl
test, had not beeu found wanting. Never had she been
more imited or more determined than she was after Cap-
oretto, She had found herself through the agony of da-
feat

But months have passed, the lon^; winter months of pri-
vation and hardship. December and January were un-
usually cold and dry, February and March unusually wet
and raw. Marking time in the trenches under these con-
ditions was not inspiring, and the news from home grew
more and more disquieting. The old crop was nearly
exhausted and the new would not come in for some time.
Food was scarcer than ever and very dear. There was a
great shortage of fuel. And the soldier's pay was only
10(^ a day, with a subsidy of 17^ for his wife and 9fi for
each child under 12. Except in the manufacturing re-
gions in the north it was difficult to find employment to

^^L each
^1 gions

^ Tl

)ad ev^^^^

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

BQpplemeat tliis meagre allowance. The burden i
on tbe civilian population was greater than it had <
been before. It was known that the enemy, balked of
its rich prize just when it seemed within its grasp, stand-
ing at the very gates of coveted Lombardy, would make
every effort to break through the Italian lines as soon aa
tbe weather conditions permitted. Could this sorely tried
people continue its heroic resistance 't

The defeatists, pacifists, socialists and pro-Gennana be-
came more and more active, spreading discontent among
the soldiers and the rural population. Moreover, Italy as
■well as France, in the spring of 1918, had its attack ofj
Boloism. And the famous '' cotton-waste scandals,"
which it was shown that a number of pretended Italiai
corporations were in reality disguised German firms which
had been steadily shipping cotton-waste to Germany
through Switzerland, added to the feeling of uncertainty.
There were many underground attempts of German propa-
gandists to weaien the moral resistance of the people.
Rumors of approaching peace mysteriously sprang up in
all quarters. One form of German propaganda particu-
larly menacing and widespread took the form of discredit-
ing America. It was said that America had entered
the war in order to prolong it for her own gain, that she
was not heart and soul pledged to its prosecution, and that
she could never get ready in time to have any nailitary in-
fluence on the result There were no American troopa
in Italy to give the answer. But although there were no
American fighting troops in Italy, there was a force of
Americans wearing the United States Army uniform,
members of the American Eed Cross, and to them there
came an exceptional opportunity of representing the
American Army and the American people at a time when
the situation was most critical.

It was easier to meet the enemy propaganda and to
counteract demoralizing tendencies in the large cities than

the remoter villages and the country districts, and here

lay the opportiimty of the Eed Oroaa. There ia no part of
Italy that has not sent it3 quota of citizens to the United
States. Talking one day with our delegate to Avellino, one
of the poorer sections of Italy, he remarked : " You know
this district sends a larger proportion of emigrants to
America than any other." Shortly afterwards in Sicily on
the train on my way to Palermo an Italian by my side,
pointing to a town we had just passed, said: " That place
has been largely re-built with American money. More peo-
ple go to America from this part of Italy than from any
other," and he added, rather sadly : " But you spoil
them. Their love of Italy brings them back, but their love
of America makes them unhappy imtil they return."
Some weeks later in a little town at the other extreme
of Italy, in the heart of the Dolomites, the Mayor said to
me almost with pride : " You know we hold the record
for the proportion of the population that goes to America.
Sooner or later 30 per cent of them find their way there,"
I know not which, if any, was right, but the fact is that
everywhere in Italy, America is known at first hand and
admired as a land of power and plenty and loved as a
land of freedom.

The stage was all set in advance to make effective the
work which the Eed Cross undertook. The plan waa
simple and direct It was to send at once to every part
of Italy meu in the American uniform to carry the mes-

sage of American fri

.endship and sympathy and of her de-

termination to spend all of her resources in men and
means in order to insure victory, and to give the people
tangible evidence of her determination through a gift of
money to the neediest and most deserving of the families
of soldiers at the front. There was to be no limit to the
nimaber of families aided and the amount was to be meas-
ured by the needs. It was not charity, but simple jus-
tice, taking upon our shoulders some of the burden borne
by the old men, women, and children whose sole support
waa serving our common cause somewhere in the trenchp"

ftS THE AinCRTCAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

— helping them, perhapB, to buy meat where the addition
of meat to the family table for a few days mi^t mean
the difference between insufficient and sufficient nutri-
tion, or to purchase milk for babies underfed, or to obtain
the warm garment that would help make up for the dis-
comfort caused by lack of fuel, or, possibly, to get medi-
cines for the sick at home.

The Premier, keenly alive to the possibilities of the un-
dertaking, promptly set in motion the elaborate govern-
mental and municipal machinery to determine whidi fam-
ilies of soldiers were to be aided. Meanwhile, Bed Croas
agents were dispatched to every city, town, and village.
Telegrams were sent to delegates in distant fields to leave at
once by the most rapid means of conveyance and travel
night and day without stopping until every hamlet in their
territory had received the message from America. All
other work must for the time being be left to subordinatea.
Belief must be carried immediately to those to whom the
war had brought the greatest distress, and it must be
shown by the actual presence of American officers in uni-
form that America was at hand with aid. During the
next few weeks those men of the Bed Cross sped to all
parts of Italy, carrying the message. It would have been
hard to go anywhere in the kingdom during that period
without hearing of their work or meeting them on their
mission. You might have seen them arriving at district
headquarters, their automobiles covered with mud or dust,
their uniforms travel stained, but their faces gleaming
with enthusiasm, and they themselves never too tired to
recount with interest the receptions and the many proofs
of sympathy and understanding that had marked the busy
day.

The itineraries were carefully planned notwithstanding
the haste necessary. The Government telegraphed ahead
the news of the expected arrival of the delegate. At each
provincial capital the Prefect would meet the American
representative and at each town he was given a gratify-

AMERICA'S DECLARATION OF WAR

^B' ing demonstration — a apontaneous response from
^B people which showed their confidence and trust in their~i
friends in the United States. Generally he was met at
the city gates by the Mayor, the town doctor, the pariah
priest, and other dignitaries, and a large crowd of people,
and escorted to the city hall, showered with flowers andJ
notes of welcome, while the band played and barefootec
children ran ahead waving American flags. Then in thaj
public square the delegate would deliver his message, the
Mayor and the Prefect respond, and the meeting turn intc
an enthusiastic patriotic rally. Not infrequently one ob-*
served women, overcome with emotion, silently weeping
SS hope sprang afresh in their hearts. For the Italians,
particularly the peasants, are an emotional people and
responsive and easily moved by kindliness.

Everywhere our delegates went they were continually
running across odd bits of American atmosphere. For
example, the Mayor of a small village high up in the Apen-
nines pointed with pride to a captain'g commission which
hung on his dining room wall. It was a commission in
the Northern Army of the United States signed in 1861
by Abraham Lincoln. The Mayor's father had been a
political refugee in '48 and had led a company of Italians
during our Civil War.

Everywhere one met the tragic evidences of war. In
the little tovm of Fosaombrone 150 children who had lost
their fathers in the war presented flowers to the Ameri-
cans; in Umbria two little girls walked five miles to
present wild flowers to the Americans and to tell the story
of a father who was a prisoner in Austria, of a brother
who had been killed months before, and of two brothers

■ at the front, and so it went, for of such experiences there
was no end.
All through the northern provinces Just beyond the
Austrian line one ran across many specially harrowing evi-
dences of the havoc of war. In one village were many
peasants who had refused to leave. A house to house

60 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

distribution was made in tMs territory, and into many of
these homes the American Hed Cross was able to take a
message of comfort and sympathy. In one little half
wrecked house, the American Red Cross party found an
aged and destitute father and mother mourning over the
body of their youngest boy, only sixteen years old, killed
by the same shell that had wrecked their home. The ar-
rival of the Americans with their messages of comfort and
assistance seemed to come as a direct answer to their
prayers to heaven, and they eagerly sent tidings of it to
their three sons at the front

In all, 7051 cities, towns, and villages were reached by
the Red Cross representatives. In each community a list
of the most needy families had been prepared in advance
by a committee variously constituted but generally headed
by the mayor and including the chairmen of local relief
organizations and the more important civil and religious
authorities. After consultation with this committee a
sum of money was left sufficient to accomplish the purpose
of the distribution. Receipts were taken and blanks sup-
plied on which the mayor was required to make full ac-
counting. The total sum distributed was 6,431,000 lire
and the number of families aided 290,000. And it was
all accomplished in three weeks' time.

In most of the towns visited patriotic proclamations
were at once posted on the walls for all to read, repeat-
ing the substance of the message of the Red Cross dele-
gate and rejoicing in the friendship of the two nations now
bound together more securely in defense of common ideals :
" For the rights of the people, for the freedom and in-
dependence of nationalities " (per i diriiti dei popoli, per
la liberid e indipendema delle nazionalita). And by
letter and postcard word of the American visit was sent
by the families to their men at the front, and the hugo
stack of postcards received by the Red Cross from the
soldiers themselves expreaaing simple and touching grati-
tude is eloquent evidence of the effect of this distribution

^B upon tbi
^^ many asi

AMERICA'S DECLARATION OF WAR

■upon the spirit of the troops and of the people; and 1
many assurances were received from official and military
sources of its immediate beneficial result. It was not the
gift of money (which was little enough, the maximum
to an individual family was 100 lire) so much as the
sight of the Americans in uniform and the message of
friendship they brought that carried conviction to the
people that Italy's ally and friend, the foster-mother of
80 many Italians, was wholeheartedly with them and was
out to win. The slander of the German propagandist
simply melted away.

It was of course to be expected in an undertaking of
this magnitude, put throtigh with such dispatch, that
hitches would occur here aud there in carrying out the
program. Tor example, in one district the Ked Cross
delegates, carried away by their enthusiasm in the first
few towns that they reached, distributed so lavishly that
they had to retrench in other communities near by, and
this gave rise to invidious comparisons. And in one part
of Italy where everyone is poor, no one could be found who
was willing to assume the responaibility of designating
the most needy, and a general distribution was made,
which resulted in the amounts being so small in each case
as to destroy the effectiveness of the work. But these
were the rare exceptions. The April distribution was
successful beyond all expectation. It was a fitting cele-
bration of the anniversary of our entrance into the war.
It is hard to imagine how America's message could have
been more quickly, more widely and more effectively de-
livered,

In fact the evidences of success were so overwhelming
as to suggest the desirability of undertaking as a regular
Eed Cross activity a monthly distribution to soldiers'
families. For some time the Commission hesitated.
While the question was stiH undecided it happened one
day that two members of the Commission were lunching
with a famous baritone, well known both in America and

62 THE AMERICAK RED CROSS IN ITALY

Europe. His father waa an Italian blacksmith and at the
outbreak of boBtilities he had returned to his native land
to fight for hia country. It was a part of his duty at this
time to conduct sentenced soldiers to prison. He would
generally asli them for their story. He told of one man
whom he had recently conducted to prison sentenced for
desertion. " I was married," aaid the soldier, " only a
few months before the war. My wife is very pretty.
It waa a love match. And when she wrote me that she
was expecting a baby, I used to worry. What could she
do with 85 centimes a day, all that the Government
allows, and it allows nothing for children under two
years, and my wife, — she was so pretty. So I ran away.
No one discovered me. I worked a whole year support-
ing my wife and baby, and then when things were getting
a little better, we talked it over, my wife and I, and de-
cided it was best for me to go back to the army and give
myself up. I did, and now — I have been sentenced for
three years in prison."

Two votes were won that day for the continuance of
the distribution. A little assistance from the Red Cross
would in this case have meant so much. It is in fact a
truth, borne out from many quarters, that the main cause
for desertions from the Italian Army has been neither
cowardice nor lack of patriotism, but devotion to the
family, for which the Italian is noted, and worrying over
conditions at home. Kelief from just such anxieties is
plainly Red Cross work. It was decided to continue the
financial aid, and the Italian authorities gladly cooperated
in working out the scheme for the selecting of the bene-
ficiaries. Each of the generals commanding Italy's nine
armies recommended every month a stated number of
soldiers and to the family of each was given 75 lire.
The official censor would generally get a line from the
letters written from the front on the cases of greatest
need, and the officers would recommend for assistance the
families in special need whose husbands had distinguished

AMERICA'S DECLAftAl-iOl^ Of WAR

themselveB by the excellence of their uoldierly conduct a
the front. The number of soldiers assisted in each army
was in proportion to the fighting force. Although only
3,000 or 4,000 families a month were reached in this way,
different families were reached each time and the in-
fluence was out of proportion to the number. The women
who received this assiatanee were filled with pride. The
gift was a badge of distinction. Everyone in the town
would Boon hear about it. Also at the front the fact of
the award was widely known among the soldiers. The
commanding generals themselves have expressed the warm-
est appreciation of this service, not only strengthening the
sympathy and friendship between the American and
Italian armies, but also reinforcing the soldiers' spirit and
contributing substantially to the victorious results. The J
total amount distributed under this plan in the months I
that followed was 2,099,695 lire.

During April, Mr. H. P. Davison, Chairman of the '
War Council of the American Red Cross, with the Vice
Chairman, Mr. Eliot Wadsworth, and Mr. Ivy Lee, .
an inspection trip through Italy which turned into a
triumphal tour. There were enthusiastic demon s'trationfl
everywhere they went. Their welcome in each city was
marked by circumstances that set it apart from the others.
In Naples the people crowded the beautiful San Carlo
Opera House, eager to see and hear the man who more
than any other at that time meant America to them, be-
ing the commanding general of the only army so far rep-
resented in Italy. And the spontaneous enthusiasm of
this reception was simply the harbinger of what was to
follow everywhere he went. In Florence the great Cin-
quecento Hall of the Palazzo Vecchio was filled with rep-
resentatives of patriotic societies gathered to welcome
him, while the Piazza outside was thronged with cheer-
ing crowds. At a diuner given by the city authorities
thB General of the army corps with headquarters in Flor-
announced that he was so impressed with Mr. Davr

64 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

son's message from America that he would have it read
as an order of the day to his troops, and the Mayor de-
clared that he would have it read in all the schools as a
message from the 11,000,000 children, who were memben
of the Red Cross, to the children of Italy. In Bologna,
in recognition of what the Red Cross had done for Italian
military hospitals, the General commanding the army
corps stationed there was at the station to greet the
visitors with a regiment of soldiers, all of whom had been
wounded in the war. Here, as in Florence, the noBBsage
from America was made an order of the day to be read
to the troops.

But the most impressive reception was that given in
the Colosseum, symbol of eternal Rome, which even in
ruins is one of the grandest of the world's structures, on
the aimiverBary of America's entrance into the war,-t
day celebrated all over Italy with great popular demon-
strations. Here were assembled the troops stationed in
Rome, and picked soldiers who had come from the front to
carry back to their comrades in arms the message from
America and the inspiration of the occasion. And all
around were the people of Rome packed in every avail-
able comer among the ruins of the vast amphitheatre.
There were soldiers with medals on their breasts stand-
ing with people from the poorest quarters in what waa
once the space reserved for emperors: there were women
in nurses' veils where once the Vestal Virgins stood:
little children were perched above the pits from which
wild beasts had been loosed in the days of pagan Rome
to fight with gladiators or bring death to Christian
martyrs. All about the arena were the flags of the Allies^
the Stars and Stripes given special prominence. At one
side a ti*ibune had been arranged for the speakers. The
welcome was extended by the mayor of Rome and the
Miniver of Education, and then our Ambassador spoke
to +"^*^ Italian people on behalf of the people of America.
t Mr. Davison, speaking in the name of the Red

AMEEICA'S DECLABATION Or 'WiA"

Cross, " the collective heart of America," delivered the f
lowing message;

" It is perhaps fitting that I should be given the privi-
lege of addressing you on this most historic spot — fitting
because I bring a message from millions of American men.
and millions of American women to the idol of your
country, His Majesty Your King, to bis Majesty's Gov-
ernment, to your valiant soldiers at the front and to your
people throughout this beautiful land of sunny Italy.
Immediately let me say that I come to you with feelingfl
above all else of respect and admiration for the efforts and
the sacrifices your people have so willingly made in a war
into which you, like the United States, were unwillingly
drawn. Like the United States you could not remain
out of this war and retain your national self-respect.
■Nor could the great traditions of your country have been
upheld had you aligned yourselves other than against the
most dangerous foe which has ever assailed the rights of
free men and free nations. No nation in this war has had
a. more difficult part to play than Italy, and nobly have
you played it.

" As Chairman of the American Red Cross, I wish to
Bpeak of that organization, but I do so with some hesita-
tion and diffidence, fearing that some of you might inter-
pret any comment that I may make upon its developments
and growth and the work it has accomplished as an evi-
dence of pride on the part of our people. But I beg you
to give no consideration to such thought, as it is neither
in the hearts nor the minds of the American people, their
attitude being one of complete himiility in their endeavor
through our organization, the American Red Cross. It
is, however, necessary to give you some idea of the organi-
zation in order that you may better understand the char-
acter of the message which I bring from four thousand
miles over the sea.

" One year ago yesterday the United States declared
w&r on Germany. The American Red OrosB at that time

I
I

'68 THE AMERICAN BED CROSB IN ITALT

had a membership of a little over 200,000 peopla Tch
day it has a membership of over 22,000,000 people. If we
include tbo children of the schools, who are junior
members, it increases the total membership to approxi-
mately 33,000,000 people. One year ago to-day the or-
ganization had, throughout the country, two hundred
chapters. To-day, including chapters, branches and auxil-
iaries, the organization has nearly twenty-one thousand
subdivisions, which means that in every city, town and
hamlet in the United States there is to-day a Red Cross
organization, in which the women of America are maJting
surgical dressings and knitting into various articles their
he^felt love and sympathy.

" As soon as we were able to effect an organization, w«
dispatched Commissions, composed of distinguished, rep-
resentative American men to Trance, to Italy, to England,
to Russia, to Roumania, and to Serbia. It may not be
unnatural for you to ask : ' Why did the American
people take this step? ' They took this step because when
the United States Government declared war upon Ger-
many it, hy that very act, acknowledged that the war
since its beginning in August, 1914, had been for the
American people as well as for the Allies which have par-
ticipated. There are no new principles involved. It was
the same war, with the same common enemy, and there-
fore the fact was recognized that for all those many months
previous you of Italy and your Allies had been fighting
and bleeding and dying for us as well as for yourselves.
At our entrance into the war we found ourselves totally
unprepared and realized that it must of necessity be a
long time before we could take a strong position in the
line. But we also realized that, pending that time, we
could, through our Commissions, express in some slight
degree our appreciation for all that had been done, and
our sympathy and our desire to help back of the line
in such a manner as might he possible.

" I come to you, the people of Italy, under the direction

SMCA'S DEClAKiTTOK

E these millions of American men, women and children,

" with the message that we of America know you of Italy.
We know of your undaunted courage, of your valor, of
your chivalry, and of your strength. We know that frmn
your incomparable land has come to us much that is
beautiful and inspiring, and that there is no land in the
world more beloved and admired than Italy by those
Americans who have had the fortime to be received within
her hospitable borders. We ask, may we through my col-
league. Colonel Perkins, and his distinguished associates,
in some way express to you our sentiments; may we do
Bomething which may hearten your soldier; may we do
Bomething which might, in some degree, hearten and en-
courage his family, may we do something for those who
have been ruthlessly driven away from their homes, where
for all their lives they have been following their avoca-
tiouB, with peace and good-will toward all men ? This we
ssk you to permit ua to do, not by way of charity, but
rather as a slight expression of our feeling of admiration
and devotion to you. On behalf of our people I thank you
for the spirit in which you have received Colonel Perkins
and his Commission, and may I say that if the American
Eed Cross shall be permitted, within your country, to do
any work which shall prove a comfort to your people we
shall indeed be gratefuL

" I am confident in my hope that, through the agency
of the American Red Cross, there will be established a
closer relationship between your people and ours, and if
Buch an understanding could be had between all the civil-
ized peoples of the world, we could never again become
involved in such a tragedy as is now shaking the earth to
its very foundation."

There were other speeches including one in Italian by
Congregsman La Guardia. Even the rain which fell in
quantities towards the end of the day failed to drive away
the crowd or dampen its enthusiasm. It was a memor-
able gathering, and everyone present came away feeling

68 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

that America and Italy, traditional friends ever since
America's birth, were now more closely united than ever
before.

It must not be inferred from the fact that so far men-
tion has been made only of the work with the civilian
population that there had been any neglect of opportuni-
ties for the various forms of Red Cross activity that deal
directly and personally with the soldier. As early as
New Year's day, 1918, gifts which had been prepared at
the American Church in Rome under the auspices of the
American Relief Clearing House were distributed to
soldiers in the First, Third, and Fourth Armies. In
January a workshop was opened in Rome which prepared
in all over 100,000 packages for soldiers, each containing
a cake of chocolate, a pencil, a cake of soap, an American
Red Cross post card, a handkerchief and a package of ciga-
rettes. These were distributed to the units of tibe Italian
army designated by the Military authorities, the distribu-
tion in each case being made the occasion of a review or
of some other military ceremony. And there were many
distributions to soldiers on the lower Piave, in the cold
winter months, of much needed woolen articles of cloth-
ing. In Venice soldiers on leave before their return to
the front were regularly given warm garments, including
sweaters, socks, and gloves — an average of 3,000 a month
for the first six months of the year. And there were
similar distributions on a smaller scale at Taormina.
Nearly two hundred gramophones were given to units of
the Italian Army and Navy, which proved most welcome
to the fighting men of this music-loving people. And
during the first five months of the year though there was
relative quiet on the Italian front, our ambulances carried
over 30,000 sick and wounded, covering in all 260,000
kilometers.

A chain of station canteens or rest houses {Posti di
canforto militari) was established at the important rail-
way ' ■ *ons where large numbers of troops had to wait

AUERZCA'S DECLARATION OF WAR

r change trains. These reached all over the peninsula
and extended even to Sicily and Sardinia, Here hot aoup,
coffee, lemonade and other refreshnients were given to the
soldiers free or at a nominal charge of one or two cents.
Generally there was a room for rest and recreation
equipped with a gramophone and piano, and there were
postcards and letter paper and places to write. In some
instances dormitorieB with bunks and baths were pro-
vided.

Each of the station eanteeus had its unique features.
One of the largest and most successful was at Ancona
commodiously housed in a freight shed adjoining the sta-
tion. It had begun operations in November, 1917, when
refuses in large numbers were pouring south along the
Adriatic, serving food and providing for their comfort in
various ways. When the flood of refugees subsided it
was remodeled and made over to serve soldiers on the
transport trains passing to and from the front, and dur-
ing the period of its management by the Red Cross it
entertained over six hundred thousand. There was a
large central mess hall so arranged with four long cement
counters running down the middle that one thousand
Boldiers conld be fed in an hour. In addition to the writ-
ing and rest room for the soldiers another smaller room
waa reserved for the use of officers. Gay with flags and
flowers, simply but cosily furnished, and provided with a
buffet, it ministered to the comfort of Italian, English,
and French officers while their men were being refreshed
in the adjoining hall, and proved a pleasant bond between
these comrades in arms.

At Milan a portion of the freight yards by the station
assigned to the Red Cross for canteen use was converted
into a most attractive place, with a garden bright with
flowers and vines, a fountain and benches, giving an un-
expected atmosphere of rest and beauty amidst sordid sur-
roundings. And there was a comfortable reading, writ-
iTig. and lounging room, and three barracks for soldiers t'

70 THE AMEBICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

sleep in, and shower baths. Walk into this place any ewe-
ning during the spring or sununer, say at eleven thirty, the
time cofFee was served to the new arrivals. Quite a nwcor
her of soldiers are already in line. Passing one window
they get their cofFee and, drinking as they go, move on to
another window farther along where the cup must be left,
an arrangement found desirable, for the cups, made of
empty condensed milk cans, are much coveted by the
soldiers and apt to find their way into their pac^ as
souvenirs. Many soldiers are lounging in the pergola try-
ing to fathom the beauties of American ragtime issuing
from the ever popular gramophone. " You Americana
bring us everything," remarked a peasant one day for
whom this instrument was still something of a novelty,
^^you have brought us canned food and now you are
bringing us canned happiness." Other soldiers may be
found in the writing room, while another group ia
gathered about the piano which one of their number ia
playing. Two of the bunk houses are already filled and
a third soon will be, for the next troop train is almost
due. And so it went every day. The Milan rest house
often took care of one thousand a night, some of them
only staying a few hours between trains so that the same
bunk was frequently occupied by two or three different
soldiers during the night.

At Naples four women Red Cross workers were in
charge of the canteen, which was in a large tile hut con-
nected with the station. They worked in relays on six
hour shifts, so that the " Posto " was open continuously
day and night The cheer of their presence added greatly
to the popularity of this canteen. Here is an extract
from a report made by one of them :

"During my shifts this week the number of soldiers
has been so great that it was impossible to talk individually
with many of the soldiers, but all seemed happy to enjoy
the soup and there were many demands for a second help-
ing, one soldier saying to me : ^ Sister, I told my com-

AMERICA'S DECIAEATION OF WAB

f paniotiB that wherever they saw Poato di Conforio Amerir ]
cano, they would always find good food, like nothing they 1
had before,' and he added, ' We have not been disap- j
pointed to-day.' The postcards and writing paper are a '
great joy, especially those with American and Italian flaga
together. When I aaked why they liked tbem better than
any other kind they answered: ' You see it shows we are
friends and when we send them to our relations every-
one can see the flag of the American nation with ours,' "
On one of the writing tables in this canteen lay a guest
book, well worn from much handling in which the soldiers
have expressed in many a homely phrase their enthusiasm
for their American ally and their appreciation of the
work of the Ked Cross. Once in a while a soldier, per-
haps formerly resident in America, would try his hand
at English, with mixed results. The following is too good
not to quote : After expressing the wish that " the Ameri-
can Stars and Stripes may bring peace in the world " he
adds " Hurry for Uncle Sam ! Hurry for Wilson t
Hurry for Italy and for our King Victor Emanuel III."
Perhaps he wrote better than he knew. This was
written at a time when hurrying for the cause of liberty
was more to the point than any amount of hurrahing.

CHAPTER V

Ttolling Canteens — The June Offensive — A. B. O. AmK^ltT*^
Service — The Story of Lieutenant McEey

Ths Bed Cross maintained a series of rolling Aanf^iflTia
scattered along the Italian front in the mountains and on
the plains. They were established either quite near ih^
front line trenches or at strategic points a few kilometers
back on highways where troops regularly passed, though
rarely so far away as to be beyond the danger zone of ahell
fire. The officers in command of neighboring troops fie*
quently permitted their men to leave the trendies in order
tiiat they might spend some time at the Bed Cross can-
teens, which became a sort of soldiers' club. A typioal
unit consisted of a small hut containing the quarters of
the Bed Cross Lieutenant in charge and also the store
room, and a large hut adjoining which contained the
kitchen and the rest room for the use of the soldiers.
The walls of this room were attractively decorated with
flags and posters and patriotic inscriptions. Scattered
about were tables with writing materials and magazines
and books. Along one side ran a counter over which the
soldiers were served hot coffee, chocolate, jam, and some-
times soup. The jam was spread thick on bread which
the soldiers brought with them, a special treat to men
so long deprived of sweets. Candy, cigarettes and cigars
were given out. Each canteen had a phonograph with
records of patriotic airs and popular songs, and two
mandolins, a guitar and an accordion for impromptu con-
o'-- -^or in every crowd there was sure to be a goodly

ho played some instrument or other. And when

EraSS^SANTBENS — THE 3VM S'SfS&ftflfif

Biftkei

conditions permitted provision -was made for out-door
mes, CBpeciallj bocce (Italian bowls) and football.
From these canteens as bases supplies were regularly
ken by camion, mule, motor-cycle or bicycle to the
'trenches and there distributed by the Red Croas officer
in person. The appearance of the American uniforms
was always the occasion of much rejoicing, not merely be-
cause it meant something to eat and something to amoke,
but because of the friendly companionship, the joJecs, the
words of cheer and encouragement, in short, the human
touch that relieved the dull routine and ruthless brutal-
ity of life in the trenches.

The canteens were attached to specific regiments which
provided the necessary soldier helpers. Each was in
charge of a Red Cross Lieutenant and the duties required
of him were such as to tax the resources of the most
versatile and adaptable temperament. He must possess
executive ability, courage and coolness under fire. He
must have a gift for understanding men of another race.
He must be a man's man and a knower of men and a good
mixer, equally successful in establishing cordial relations
with the Italian ofScers and in making friends and win-
ning the confidence of the men in the ranks. There was
one message he must always put across and that was that in
contributing to the rest and comfort and recreation of the
soldiers the American people through the lied Cross were
trying to express their gratitude to them for all they had
done and endured for our common cause during the three
long years and more in which Italy had been waging war.
Many ties of friendship were formed which reached
beyond the individual Red Cross worker to the " gener-
ous and bountiful America " (a phrase often heard) which
he represented. The popularity of the rolling canteens
with the men is very prettily revealed in the following
word picture of one of them drawn by an Italian and
published in the Corriere della Sera:

" The heat is merciless. On the roadside under the

shade of a cluster of trees stands a hut with an Italian
flag and a flag showing a fleld of hlue with stars and red
and white stripes. The soldiers crowd the place. This
is a rest house of the American Red Cross. You can
find many of these close to the lines, at points of heavy
traffic and where it is most difficult to obtain cool drinks
or to find anything to eat. Here our great American Ally
brings a lot of good things. Here they place a table, fix
an awning, spread the Stars and Stripes and the Italian
flag, and here they stand themselves, smooth-shaven, khaki-
clad, and with their round caps, offering every good thing
in Qod's grace to the passing soldiers, coffee, cool drinks,
bread, chocolate as we once knew it, and crackers that we
no longer are accustomed to. A real providence, and the
offering is made with such good, with such cordial fra-
ternity. The soldiers have already baptized these Rest
Houses. They call them in a jocular way American Bars
and when from afar they see on the road the tri-color and
the Stars and Stripes, they cry ' Let us go visit America.* "
The service rendered by the rolling canteens varied ac-
cording to the differing conditions determined by the loca-
tion o£ the posts. One of these canteens was situated at an
Alpine post over 5000 feet above the sea, where Italy abuts
on Switzerland and Austria. Its attractive quarters in
what was formerly a tourist hotel provided a most wel-
come and popular club for the soldiers stationed at Santa
Catarina, and for the troops continually passing to or from
the mountain posts beyond. But its most distinctive serv-
ice was carrying hot coffee and other comforts to the sol-
diers standing guard on the Alpine frontier. Nearly
every mountain peak had its quota of soldiers. Many
of these posts could only be reached by tcleferica,
and the Red Cross officers with their supplies would be
pulled up to the tops of the peaks in wire baskets
suspended to a single cable, sometimes as much as 3000
feet in length and running almost straight up. At times
the supplies were carried by dog teams, and occasionally

G CANTEENS — THE JUNE OFFENSIVE 75-

where hand over hand work was necesaary in
order to reach the soldiers in their all but inaccessible
heights. Never were Red Cross gifts more welcome than
in these lonely snowbound posts. The followiEig extracts
from a letter written by the officer in charge of this canteen
describes one of these trips :

" My friend and I had the pleasure of carrying sup-
plies two days ago to the highest trench held by the allied
troops in all the war zone of Europe. It was on a moun-
tain peak some thirty miles from our post. We were
furnished experienced Alpine guides by the Colonel in
charge and climbed to a ledge 11,500 feet high upon which
rested the little lookout post. The trip from the foot of
the mountain took four hours. Wo were in the snow every
foot of the way. On this climb we had to creep through
two ice tunnels, one being over one thousand feet in length.
These tunnels are necessary for the soldiers in going to
and from their posts in order that they may not be ex-
posed to Austrian fire. At one point a faulty rock forma-
tion necessitated our leaving the first tunnel and walking
about one hundred and fifty feet before darting into an-
other. We managed this in single file at intervals of about
three minutes. Each of us was greeted with the Austrian
fire, but while you could hear the bullets distinctly, I only
saw one strike the snow and that some twenty feet below.
Finally in order to reach our destination we had to climb
about 400 feet up a practically perpendicular wall of ice
and hard snow. Of course we were tied to our guides,
eight of us strung to a single rope, and, with their as-
sistance, and the aid of our ice picks we eventually landed
on the ledge. . . . Perhaps you will say such a trip aa
this was not absolutely necessary. We might have left
the supplies with the Colonel and had them sent on by
e guide. But I assure you that our presence there in the
distribution added much which the Eed Cross could
in no other way. . . .

" To-morrow morning accompanied by a guide I

76 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALT

taking supplies to a monntain post never yet visited hy an
American and the Colonel in charge has sent me word to
be sure and bring an American flag. ... I must say
that ill Italy, and particularly in this section, the Ameri-
can nation is looked up to in a manner that makes you
feel very proud of your country and your people."

Xear one of the canteens on the Asiago plateau a foot-
ball field was established, protected from the view of the
enemy by an ingenious camouflage arrangement, and here
teams representing English and Italian troops stationed in
the vicinity were able to enjoy open air sport while as-
signed to front line duty. And sometimes, when the
Huns were momentarily off the job, and a good game was
on, several thousand soldiers would occupy the bleachers
where the reserved seats were the edges of shell craters.

One canteen was situated in a very busy center on
Orappa. The soldiers and particularly the officers were
most enthusiastic over its establishment and constructed
the necessary building with great care. The Bed Cross
officer was anxious to have it finished in a hurry, but they
insisted on making it a solid substantial structure. Its
construction was under the direction of a young Italian
lieutenant for whom it was a genuine labor of love.
Some time later this lieutenant was killed by the explosion
of a baud grenade when he was bringing in some prisoners.
"He was given a military funeral." — The Red Cross
lieutenant tiien in charge is telling the story — " All the
officers attended, and as we were coming back from the
funeral they all stopped at our kitchen for coffee and re-
freshments. I was talking with the officers near my shack
when we heard an exceptionally loud explosion and rushed
forward to see what had happened. We found that a
shell had fallen right by the kitchen, killing five and
wounding nine of these soldiers. It was a terrible sight
and it made the war seem very near, and I could not
shake off the feeling of responsibility, because if I had
not men to stop for refreshments they would

H ROLLING CANTEENS — THE JUNE OFFENSIVE 7T^^^

^P have been saved. Sheila fell very frequently in the nei^- '

" horhood of that kitchen." (

■ • • ■ the
:;ome
iiers ^^1

riods n

Seventeen rolling canteens were maintained by the
American Red Cro38, and by the time summer had come
they were serving some three quarters of a million soldiers
per month. Since only a few of these canteens wei
reaching the same men more than once a week it is evidei
that the influence of this service was very widespread. I
most important work was done during the long periods
of relative inactionj for that is when the war most gets on
the nerves of the men. Perhaps it would be more correct
to say that great activity changed the character of this
service, as it changed everything else.

That activity came, and with a vengeance, in the middle
of June when the Austrians launched their long looked
for offensive. It was the supreme effort of Austria. All
of her effective fighting forces, seventy of her ninety-two
mobilized divisions, were thrown against the Italian lines.
The order issued by Field Marshal Boroevic, commanding
general of the Austrian forces, reads : " Soldiers ! our Em-
peror and King to-day from the Adriatic to the Alps with
all his forces launches the attack upon the enemy whose
treason has made the war last so long. There before you
lie the positions of the adversary; and beyond, glory,
honor, good food and abundant war booty." For six
months Austria had been preparing for this offensive
which, it was confidently expected, was to mark the end
of the war against Italy.

The order of the day issued by General Oonrad von
Hoetzendorf, in command of the Austrian troops on the
mountain front, reads : " Soldiers ! for months and montha
resisting amidst the ice and snow of the mountains, ful-;
■filling your duty during the terrible storms of winter, yoa;
have looked at the s unn y and fertile plains of Italy. The
moment has come to go down and possess them." Aus-
trian soldiers taken prisoner described the battle as the
" Hunger Offensive." And every battalion had a requisi-

78 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

tioning section and definite instructions how to requisition
all food along the road« And the soldiers had he^ urged
forward hj die promise of booty as well as food Four
large empty trunks were captured whicdi one Austrian
officer^ who had already enridied himself by spoils stolen
from the Veneto after Caporetto, had sent ahead to oonr
tain the booty he expected to accumulate.

In the early dawn of the 15th of June oa a front of
one hundred and fifty kilometers stretching from the
Astico over the high plateau of the Asiago and Monte
Grappa to the Piave and along the Piave to the sea, the
attack began with a furious bombardment by the Austrian
artillery, which was followed up by a rushing assault that
carried the front positions of the Italians almost all along
the line. On the Asiago the British promptly recovered
the ground they had lost, inflicting heavy punishment on
the enemy. On the Grappa the battle raged with special
fury. Fourteen divisions were thrown against the
Italians at this point in the determined effort to carry
this height which was the one barrier that prevented the
free passage of the Austrian forces down the valley of the
Brenta to the plains of the western Veneto. The lower
mountains of the Grappa massif more than once changed
hands. The Italian position was precarious in the ex-
treme. General Von Hoetzendorf thus described it in his
order to his troops : " The Italians are like men hanging
by their fingers to a window sill. All we have to do is to
smite off their fingers and they will fall down." It was an
accurate description of the Italians' predicament. But
the fingers were never smitten off. The lost positions were
recovered, and after two days of terrible slaughter victory
rested with the Italians. Grappa once more, as in May,
1916, and in November, 1917, had saved Italy from in-
vasion from the north.

On the Piave line the Austrian success lasted a little
longer. Eapidly carrying the front line trenches by gas
attacks and liquid fire under cover of artificial fog, the

— tea JUNE OFPENSrVff

Auatrians had pushed on and Bueceeded in occupying half
of the Montello, a long, low, flat-topped hill that runs along
the west side of the middle Piave. But thej paid dearly
for this slight and short-lived victory. In the fierce fight-
ing that followed, the Montello became a very shambles,
thickly strewn with Austrian dead. And beyond they
could not go. In fact the Montello might well be called
the tomb of Austrian hope.

On the lower Piave the Italians were pushed back a
few kilometers, and for a week the battle raged, the line
swinging to and fro. Here the fighting was on the flat
farm land and the leaves of the vines and trees so obscured
the vision that it was hard to tell where the line was hold-
ing and where giving way. Units were often surrounded,
and many deeds of bravery are recorded, particularly by
the intrepid Arditi and the bicycle brigades of the Ber-
aaglieri whose free mobility more than once saved the
situation. And the infantry fought valiantly. The
Italian resistance was stubborn and aggressive, often tak-
ing the form of counter-attack. Here is a picture, con-
densed from the statement of an Italian eye witness,
of one comer of the battlefield ; " It was Sunday
morning and two of our brigades were marching to the
attack. The machine guns of the enemy began to work.
They were everywhere, by the hundreds, under every tree,
hidden behind every bush. And there were a great many
wounded, and no time to carry them back. Ambulances
were asked for, but they had to come there under fire, into
the middle of the fight. And they came; Italian am-
bulances, and American ambulances. On some of the lat-
ter was the legend, ' Gift of American Poets,' " And had
he gone a little nearer he might have seen on one of them
on a small brass plate over the driver's seat, " In memory of
Edith Cavell," and on another, on a similar plate, " In
honor of Theodore Koosevelt."

The battle of the Piave was the ambulance boye' op-
portunity, and they made the most of it Night and

80 THE AMEBICAN RED CB088 IN ITALY

day they worked, xumdndful of himger and fatigue.
Sometimes the run was over steep mountain roads cut
in the side of a precipice, where a slight mistake would
have sent the car and its occupants over the brink to cer-
tain death. And these roads were narrow and always con-
gested with the grim traffic of war. Often the driver must
feel his way along in the dark, for lights were forbidden.

Many deeds of individual daring could be told : — haw
this one went beyond the barbed wire that had been thrown
down by the retreating army and in the face of Austrian
gun fire rescued the wounded while bullets rained around;
how another was at an advanced post which was hit by an
enemy shell that demolished part of the house and covered
his ambulance, and, imable to extricate it, hurried back
for another and returned to the field of battle to continue
his work of mercy; how others on their way to a front
post where the fighting was furious were stopped by the
military police who said it was fatal to go further, and,
taking advantage of a moment's inattention on the part
of the guard, slipped by in spite of the warning, and suc-
ceeded in carrying a number of wounded to a place of
safety, — with much more of the same kind. But, after
all, this is simply the familiar story of our boys every-
where, on every front. There were many narrow escapes
from death, but fortunately the casualties were few.
Only one man was wounded and that slightly, and one had
to spend some time in the hospital as the result of a gas
attack.

Letters of appreciation were received from the different
commands expressing admiration for the dash and bravery
of the young Americans and for the efficiency of their
work. A great many of the men were awarded the war
cross and some received silver or bronze medals of valor.
But, as one of them, himself twice decorated, remarked:
" The difference the decorations imply was generally
simplv a difference of opportunity, not of bravery or zeal.''
T' -OSS field inspector of the ambulance service

wrote: " It is a pleasure to acknowledge the excellent spirit
and quality of the men in this service, both officers and
drivers. I do not believe that a finer body of men ever
served in an ambulance organization. The men, moat of
whom reached the front for the first time just prior to
the offensive, have worked with the greatest willingness,
courage and efGeiency."

There were four American Red Cross Ambulance Sec-
tions in the field during the battle of the Piave. A fifth
was soon added, bringing the total number of ambulances
up to one hundred and four, with twenty-five auxiliary
motor vehicles, manned by an American personnel of one
hundred and thirty-five men. During the entire period
of active service in Italy our ambulances carried 148,224:
sick and wounded, 20,014 being couches, and the aggregate
runs amounted to 1,050,907 kilometers. The enlistment
of the original personnel in this service, which had been
recriiited in France, expired in May. Nineteen re-en-
listed ; the rest left to enter other branches of service, their
places being taken by volunteers recruited during the

• spring in America.
For a week the battle raged on the Piave Sector. But
the Austrians, though using all their resources, were un-
able after the first rush to make further headway against
the stubborn resistance they encountered. Then the raina
came, and the Piave was in flood, and communication with
I their baae wag at many points interrupted. On the 22nd

■ the Austrians began to fall back, and the following day
were in full retreat, leaving behind them a trail of desola-
tion, — trees broken down, vegetation burned, houses and
cities nothing but heaps of stones and smoking ruins.
The great offensive had ended in failure. The Italian,
Army, with the help of the allied divisions on the plateau
^^ of the Asiago, had defeated the entire army of Austria.
^K Moreover, the victory of the Piave was the beginning of
^^K the end of the dual monarchy.
^^^ In the opening days of July a sharp counter-offensive

82 THE AHEBICAN BED CB0S8 IN ITALY

was started by the Italians in the marsh land on flie delta
between the old and the new Piave. After five days of
fierce fighting in water and mud, always advancing, the
last resistance of the enemy was broken, and the entire
line of the Piave was in Itidian hands.

Shortly after the Austrian offensive had broken out^
through the prompt work of the American Bed Cross dele-
gate at Venice and with the active cooperation of the
American Consul, Mr. B. Harvey Carroll, Jr., seven
emergency canteens were established on the lower Piave
and put in charge of ambulance men as yet unassigned.
Sometimes, as the fortunes of battle swayed, the position
of a canteen became untenable and a new location had to
be found. But throughout the fight they continued to sup-
ply the long dusty lines of marching men with articles
of comfort and sustenance, chocolate, coffee, cigarettes and
the inevitable tosama — little things that mean so mucdi to
soldiers whose nerves are racked by the inferno of a sus-
tained attack. The genuine depth of feeling with which
the " Viva Americas " were given, to the accompaniment of
the booming cannon, when the hot food had been consumed
was at once the Bed Cross worker's inspiration and re-
ward.

The first rolling canteen that the Bed Cross put in the
field was taken out about the first of March by Lieutenant
Ed\yard McKey, a New York portrait painter, whose poor
health had disqualified him for military service. He
threw himseK into this Bed Cross work with the greatest
enthusiasm, and in his difficult mountain post his courage
and tact and cheerful friendliness immediately won the
love and respect of the soldiers and the officers with whom
he worked.

The original plan had been to have the rolling canteens
towed along just back of the lines in order to better serve
the soldiers in the trenches, and the kitchen trailers had
been designed by McKey himself with this end in view.
"^ this plan did not prove feasible in the difficult

!■

^TEENS — THE JUXB OFFEKSlVsni^^H

) and the canteens became more or leB^^^^f
owcu.uuu.j t-u^^a from which suppiies were carried forward ^^^^
to the trenches by whatever means were available, so
HcKey determined, in June, in anticipation of the Aus-
trian offensive, to move his kitchen to the flatter field
near the Piave in order to try out the plan as originally
conceived. The young Italian lieutenant who accom-
panied him to hia new post tells this story of the trip:
" The day was very warm, and the way was long, and
the country through which we went flat and lacking in-
Ji terest, and we fell into converaation, I don't remember
^H any converaation so interesting. He had a most pictorial
^B style. We talked of all sorts of thinga, — Italian history,
^^P church painting, and the influence of religion in art, the
Cappucine monks, and, somehow, that brought us to the
Eed Cross : ' I never carried a weapon,' he said, ' and I
think that is the spirit of the Red Cross. We have lost
some of the spirit 'that inspired the Red Cross in its in-
ception. We look too much to ranks, make too much of
military organization. The Red Cross was bom as a
protest against war and its brutalities. Our task is to
wipe away the blood of the wounded and to spread the
spirit of fellowship. The true symbol of the Red Cross
is not the Sam Browne Belt, but the rope of the Cappucine.
Yes, that should be our uniform. We should have the
B&me spirit as those men who in the Middle Ages went out
to preach to the poor ' — and so he went on talking and
planning for his work on the Piave, drawing inspiration
from history and art, from men and nature. Everything
seemed to come to life, to take on fresh significance,
through the touch of his artistic soul. . . . When we
reached Pralunga he received a warm welcome at Head- L

quarters. He was shown to the small, broken down house 1

^at had been chosen as his headquarters. It was on the '

cross-roads, between Fumaci and Fosaalta, not far from
the Piave. ' Quite a strategic point,' said McKey ; ' I shall |

I go to the trenches every day to make my distiibutioa^ ■

84 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSB IN ITALY

view of tbo Austrian vedette/ And there I left him hoMj
making n*udy liis canteen^ and in high spirits ower the o^
portunity for service."

In a letter sent to a friend a day or two later MtXaj
thus descril)es his new post: '^ Every facility is given nAi
and in a few days my canteen will be running. I ahaD
start lK*f(>re the house is quite complete, as they are anx-
ious for me to get under way. I am lundiing and dinipg
at the Vivisionej where tliey are most kind and give me a
horse and cart each day to go to my work. Yea oin
imagine I make no demands or requests except thoae enr
tircly necessary for my work, and, in fact^ I have rarely
had to ask for anything as everything has been done for
me. I spent my first morning with the Colonel in the
lines to see my posts and the street where I am to wofk.
There is wonderful work ihere and I see a great op-
portunity. I think, however, there is danger of losing
the outfit with a shell. The street is shelled constantly
and during the time, about an hour, in which we were in
the line, some fifty shells came over, striking in or near
the street. I have, however, found several spota into
which I can crawl and be quite safe."

Before this letter reached its destination, Lieutenant Mo-
Key had made the supreme sacrifice. On Jime 16 in the
neighborhood of Fossalta, he was consulting with Captain
Colabattisti, who was in command of a field battery, as to
where to place his canteen in order to best serve refresh-
ments to the men. The place was being heavily shelled
by the enemy and there was little ground suitable for the
purpose. However, a place was selected and then for a
few moments they discussed the progress of the hattle.
" The fine qualities displayed by our men," to quote the
Captain, " so aroused McKey that he gave free vent to his
enthusiasm: ^How splendidly the Italians are fighting 1'
he exclaimed." Those were the last words he uttered, for
just then an Austrian shell exploded at their side, kill-
ing him instantly and at the same time seriously wound-

» 1

ing Captain Colabattisti, He was buried the next day,
his grave marked by a plain wooden cross inscribed with
his name and rank, like the rows of Italian graves beside
him. A small American flag was placed beside the cross,
and throughout the battle bis Italian friends kept fresh
flowers on the grave. Scarcely had the armistice been
signed, however, before the Italian authorities erected a
headstone, on which are the crossed flaga of Italy and
America, with an inscription below in memory of the
youDg lieutenant whose death was the blood pledge of the
friendship of tbe two countries.

This story baa been told at some length because in tha
manner of his tragic death as in his life McKcy bo per-
fectly represented the spirit which was tbe inspiration of
tbe roiling canteen service and the secret of its success.
His last words express tbe verdict shared by all the Red
Cross men whose experiences during those stormy days
in June qualified them to speak ; — shared too, however
reluctantly, by the enemy. An Austrian officer, taken
prisoner, declared : " After tbe first day we knew that we
were beaten. We never expected to meet such spirited re-
Bistance." And, in fact, the Auatrians bad confidently ex-
pected to capture Venice within forty-eight hours, and, in
anticipation of this victory, had had leaden medals made
representing tbe Austrian eagle about to pluck out the eyes
of the Lion of St. Mark. Perhaps the designer bad
prophetic vision: the eagle looks more like an obscene
vulture than like the king of birds; and tbe lion is most
calm and unperturbed, as if be too were observing ; " How
splendidly the Italians are lighting I "

CHAPTER VI

Surgical Dressings — Hospital Supplies — Hospitals — Dis-
pensaries — Fighting Spanish Fever — Child Welfare Work
— Summer Colonies

Wb are justly proud of the record that America made
in the great war when once she got under way. But what
is unique in that record is not the tremendous energy put
into our military preparations, nor even the splendid con-
duct of our soldiers, clean, strong, upstanding men whose
intelligence, dash, and daring called forth universal ad-
miration, but rather the way in which all America en-
listed for service. We showed for the first time in history
how a democracy makes war. The people willed it and
the people waged it. Universal were the contributions to
Liberty Loans and to the various welfare organizations;
everywhere without the compulsion of law the people gladly
accepted and put into force the recommendations of the
Food Administration for the conservation of food; and
everywhere, men whose normal occupation did not contri-
bute to the war and who were ineligible for military duty,
women, and even children, eagerly sought some way in
which they might individually volunteer for service. No
more striking illustration of this spirit can be found than
in the mobilization of the women of America for Red Cross
work until an army of many millions had been mustered
with chapters or auxiliary groups in every town. It is a
big story, yet one that is briefly told. Describe the chap-
ter in your own town and the chances are that you have
described them all. The rest is figures. It is very much
the same when one attempts to trace the course of their

handiwork on reaching its destination. That story also

HOSPITALS — DISPENSAKIES

I briefly told. The rest is figures. Chapter boxes ar-
rived in Italy by the thousands.' At first ihey were all
sent to Kome. Later seven other warehouses were estab-
lished at different points, chosen so that the largest sup-
ply of dressings might he distributed with the least possible
delay in the event of a crisis. Had you entered any one
of tbeae warehouses you might have seen all parts of
the country represented — Seattle rubbing elbows with
New Haven, Boston resting on New Orleans. It almost
Beemed as if every box Lad come from a different chapter,
BO that in very truth it might be said that loyal and loving
bandB all over America were stretched out to help bind up
the wounds of our soldiers and the soldiers of our valiant
allies.

In connection with seven of these warehouses were surgi-
cal dressings bureaus. Here the hoses were opened and
the dressings, white and spotless as when they left the
home chapter, were sorted and piled on shelves, or stored
in bins, and sometimes remodeled to meet Italian usage.
From these centers they were distributed until every "

^nital was fully supplied. In one of these bureaus, in an- ^^1

Hucipation of the Italian offensive in October, the necessary ^^H

^BBSorted supplies sufficient to care for fifty thousand ^^H

^^rounded were packed and ready for immediate emergency ^^H

distribution. And these, when the offensive came, were 1

And these, when the offensive came, were
hurried in camions to places of need. Tho sudden ending
of the war left a large stock still on hand. After the
needs of the redeemed districts and the devastated areas
had been cared for, the surplus was sent forward to Poland
and other countries farther east.

The first thing to get clearly in mind is the absolute
difference between the work in Italy and that in France.

' The Chapter Boses shipped to the American Red Cross Coi
aion in ttaty during the jear 1918 cuntained: Surgical DreeaingB,
66,507,536! Hospital Supplies, 2,112,609; Hospital GarmeiitB, 2,505,-
S46: Refugee Ganuents, 273,394; Artidee for Sailore and SoldierB,
4S2,802; with a. total value of $8,212,336.26.

'05,- ^^H

iMEEIClN BED CROSS IK ITALY

In Italy the need was not hospitals, but supplies. When
the American Red Cross came to Italj shortly after the
disaster of Caporetto, the Italians had just lost one hun-
dred and fifty thousand hospital beds, with all that that
implies in the way of equipment, and also two main field
magazines of the Sanitary Service, which had been the
source of reserve supplies for the hospitals of the war
zone. While of course the Red Cross could not replace
all that had been lost, it did replace a good part, especially
supplyinfj such needs as could not be met in Italy — bui^
gicai instruments, auto-claves, rubber goods, etc.

With hospitals Italy was still plentifully supplied.
These, however, had often been improvised in school build-
ings or private villas, and many o£ the smaller military
hospitals hastily constructed were in want of the most es-
sential articles. In some cases the American Red Cross
supplied the entire outfit, and more than once a Director
has been heard to say that, thanks to it, he had been able to
continue his work, as it had been all but impossible to ob-
tain the necessary supplies from other sources.

Inspectors were sent to the hospitals to investigate and
discover their needs. Generally these visits were more
than formal inspections, " I always made a point," said
one, " of going through the wards and conversing with the
wounded who were able to talk. They were always glad to
see the American uniform and a few cheerful words about
themselves and their families never failed to bring a re-
sponse, and their touching gratitude for small favors and
their courage in their sufferings more than once brought
tears to the eyes. The blind soldiers were, as a rule, the
most pathetic. When they first enter the hospitals they
are utterly depressed and indifferent to life, but soon they
begin to learn some trade and before many months have
passed become quite expert at it, prodiicing work equal to
any done by regular artisans. Then I always foimd them
happy and contented, singing and joking with their neigh-
bors while at their work in spite of their afOiction.'' And

HOSPITALS — DISPENSABIBS

00 as our inspectors went on their roimda they continually
created fresh ties of friendship which will long survive
the war.

Sometimes the method of procedure was slightly dif-
ferent. Instead of sending inspectors first, the officers in
■charge of the Sanitary Service would be invited to visit
tiiie warehouse at Padua or at Bologna, where in a large
room might be found a complete exhibit of all the articles
which the Red Cross was ready to supply, a goodly and
tempting array. They were then asked to send in their
lists, which were later checked up, and the needs invariably
supplied.

At first there was some dif&dence on the part of the
authorities in making known their wants. For the
Italians are proud and sensitive and scorn charity. They
would even resort to window dressing in order to appear
better oil than they were when our inspectors arrived.
But our Red Cross workers soon made it plain that their
aid was no more charity than the aid which our soldiers
were giving in the line. The assistance of the Bed Cross
was just one of America's ways of trying to catch up, try-
ing to pay some of the debt we owed to those who had
already been fighting and suilering for us for three long
years. And then their attitude changed and they gladly
received our aid in the spirit in which it was given.

In al! over two thousand hospitals were aided, many of

them two or three times. The range of articles furnished

covered all conceivable hospital supplies — dressings,

drugs, medicines, disinfectants, surgical instruments and

appliances, operating room, radiographic and laboratory

supplies, rubber goods, hospital furniture, kitchen and

dining room utensils, hospital clothing, linen, and even

food stuffs, in fact anything which goes to maintain and

equip a hospital, from a towel to a complete radiographic

K apparatus or an ambulance, from a silver probe to a ton of

H ether. When the Red Cross had not the desired article in

^Lftock it was purchased.

90 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

The significance of this work is out of all proportion to
the brevity of the tala Would you have a nearer
vieWy accompany one of our field delegates in the early
part of 1918 on a trip of inspection to the mountain front
Plodding along a road continually shelled and hugging the
mountain side for protection, with a heavy load of
cigarettes, matches, and chocolate on his back, he stops
to rest awhile with the picket. But let him tell his own
story : ^^ It is nearly midnight and the picket has had
nothing to eat since ten in the morning, for it is difficult
to get rations up a road that is being shelled so heavily.
He does not smoke cigarettes. I must remember to bring
some toscaria cigars next time for these old territorials.
I gave him some chocolate, but a cigar would have been
the right thing. Going on, I reach the steeper part of
the mountain where mules are unable to advance. Long
files of soldiers are going up. Young boys are carrying
heavy boxes of ammunition swung on a pole, helping
themselves up on their knees. Soldiers are coming down,
some carrying the dead, as in a hammock, others helping
their limp and wounded companions down the difficult
moimtain path. Here are the trenches the Italians were
in yesterday, right under a steep cliff. Forty feet higher
the Austrians were on top. It seems impossible that the
Italians could have carried the position. I help myself
up with a rope ladder. On the top an action is going
on one hundred yards away and it is best for me to sit
down in the old Austrian trench. My Lord, how dirty it
is 1 The Italian trenches were not exactly American bath-
rooms, but this Austrian trench is filthy. The Italians
are moving forward; shells are whizzing overhead; the
small trench mortars make a tremendous noise and the
reports of the machine guns and mortars are continuous.
In the bright moonlight I can see the soldiers run across
a narrow field and throw themselves down in what would
be the new Italian trench. Dead Austrians are lying all
around. Daylight comes, and it seems strange to see the

HOSPITALS — DISPENSARIES 91 ■

Kttle pink clouds sailing peacpfuUy over Buch desolation.

Por a time tic bombardment stops, and then you can hear
voices floating up from below in the crisp mountain air.
Two big sbellg strike on the mountain to the left, their
smoke covering half of the peak. Evidently no harm has
been done for you soon hear the clear Italian voices sing-
ing out. Now there is nothing to do but sit in as well
protected a spot aa possible and wait for the night. When
it is quiet, we can bear the Italians and the Austrians at
the same time picking in the rocks to deepen their trenches.
Some Austrian prisoners are brought in. The Viennese
is surly. When he finds that I am an American he seema
surprised and exclaims ' Ach! Amerikanisch. But we
have whipped the Russians, and you are too late.' A
yoimg Sard is wounded. I make myself useful carrying
him down to the first aid station. This is a gallery thirty
feet deep cut into the moimtain side. Here his wounds
are dressed. The wounded in the gallery are all serious
cases. They moan and cry for something to drink. It is
only possible to wipe their mouths with lemon juice and
■water. One fine Alpino is lying on his face horribly
mangled and bleeding profusely. Two young fellows have
lost their minds and are tied to stretchers. One still be-
lieves himself to be in battle and yells continually
' Avanti! Avanii!' Leaving this gallery of horrors I
carry my wounded Sard down a dangerous and narrow
pathway, sometimes over thin boards thrown across gaps
■where shells have dropped, where a false step or break
in the board would mean a fall of a thousand feet. At
the clearing station his wounds are again carefully dressed
and anti-tetanus serum is injected. Then we are packed
with ten others in an ambulance and taken to the field
boBpital. But the hospital is full. There are wounded
lying in the corridors. So we are sent on to another clear-
ing hospital where my soldier has something to eat. At
eight o'clock in the evening we are on a train with two
hundred woimded bound for Vicenza. It takes five weary

92 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

hours to go that twenty miles, and the wounded, especially
susceptible to oold from loss of blood, are without over-
coats or blankets. — You may be sure I arranged to have
Red Cross blankets on that train thereafter. — Finally I
get my wounded Sardinian to bed in the hospital at
Vicenza. He had never once complained, and I shall
always remember his short-cropped bushy head against my
cheek as I carried him down that mountain side. More
and more, I visited these first aid stations, and to all of
them the Red Cross was able to send quantities of articles
that were needed.

" Some months later, on the 29th of June, I was on the
Val Bello. The Italians bad retaken this mountain after
losing it on the 15th. The Austriana had been surprised
and not knowing what was coming were shelling the line
some half a mile back of the trenches they had lost, and
the stretcher hearers were having exciting runs over this
shelled district. An Austrian machine gun five hundred
yards to the right was taking heavy toll of the men who
went through the last stretch of communicating trenches
before reaching Val Bello. Here I chanced upon an old

acquaintance. Corporal M , wounded, and so covered

with mud that I did not recognize him, but he knew ma
There were no stretcher bearers at hand, but with my aid
and the help of a stick he managed to reach the first aid
station where his woimds were dressed and bandaged, I
noticed with pride, wirth American Red Cross dressings.
Then we had no fun in getting across the two hundred
yards of shelled road. But we finally reached the clearing
station and there he was taken by ambulance to the ad-
vanced Field Hospital, which was under the direction of

Professor R and, four hours after being wounded, was

comfortably in bed. How smoothly everything was work-
ing now! What a contrast to the condition in the early
part of the yearl I came back that night to see bow he

was. Prof. R was still in his operating room and

appeared very tired. He and his assistant surgeons bad

HOSPITALS — DISPENSAEIES

performed one hundred operations that day, most of thea|^^^|
very seriooa, abdominal and cranial wouuds. But h^l^^
stopped long enough to saj to me : ' We are able to do all
of this work because the American Ked Cross has helped
' D8 80 much — these rubber gloves, this rubber tubing,^^)

P these bandages are all yours. I can never thank 7<J^^^fl
Americans enough.' ^^^^|

" How often have I heard from the officers : ' You haV^^^H
made our work easier and better. Tour ambulances al-
ways instantly answer any call; and in our hospitals
should a thermometer be broken, should we need instru-
ments, dressings, sheetSj shirts, anything, the American
Red Cross has come to our aid immediately and without
any red tape.' "

Several large gifts of sanitary materials were made di-
rectly to the Sanitary Service of the army comprising
medical and surgical equipment and all manner of hospital
supplies; two auto-ambulances were given to this service
and two camions to complete the standard type field hos-
pital of fifty beds, the equipment for which had already
been donated by the Temporary Commission. A large
number of portable disinfecting machines and potabilizers
were given directly to them. And four laboratories were
equipped with modem technical apparatus for the experi-
mental study of certain prevalent diseases.

Individual hospitals for the care of sick and wounded
soldiers were given special assistance. For example, one
hospital was found without adequate water supply and the
Red Cross took care of this ; in another there was no place
for persons to go when convalescing and the Hed Cross
constructed a recreatorio; a clinical laboratory was sup-
plied to a large tuberculosis hospital at Forte Tiburtino j
just outside the city of Home. And so it went. These J
were all insignificant things in comparison with the great I
work the Italians were doing, but it was a source of satis- \
faction to be privileged to contribute even in a small way
towards the care and comfort of these special victims of

94 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

the war. Perhaps the saddest of these victims were the
returned tubercular prisoners. Every week a trainload
of these prisoners arrived at the Forte Tiburtino hos-
pital. They were sent back by Austria, and were all
supposed to be in an advanced stage of consumption. As
a matter of fact only about fifty per cent had tuberculosis ;
the rest had been starved to the point of death. Go out to
Forte Tiburtino on a Thursday afternoon when .the prison
train is due. Of the three hundred who started from
Austria not quite two hundred arrive. Of the remaining
one hundred one third have died on the way, the rest
have been taken from the train because too ill to continue
the journey. When the train pulls in on the hospital sid-
ing there are no friends to meet them. There is no sound
of welcome as they are helped from the cars and totter
through the gate into the hospital grounds and on into the
reception room where they are registered. This is not due
to oversight or neglect. Experience has shown that in
their exhausted and depleted condition they cannot stand
the excitement of welcome. They must, if they are to
be saved at all, be brought back gradually to the land of
the living. Most of them wear in their caps a small
American flag, the gift of the Eed Cross workers who sup-
plied them with food as they passed through Switzerland.
All are mere shadows of men, utterly listless, all interest
in life crushed out. Some are quite demented. They
have no knowledge of what has happened in the past year
and do not care. Even the return home has failed to rouse
them from their lethargy. Their minds are blank. They
can only babble of their hardships and their hunger, how
they have lived for months on turnip soup, with an oc-
casional herring, and eighty grams of bread a day, made
with a large mixture of straw. After registration they are
sent to another room and stripped. Their clothes, mostly
rags, are disinfected and sent back to Austria, which makes
this a condition of continuing the return of the prisoners.
Stripped, the men are mere walking skeletons, in some

1>D*

cases the bonea actually protruding through the flesh.
They are bathed and disinfected, given clean clothes and
hot coffee. The mortality is heavy in this hospital in spite
of the best of care. And of those who recover, the body
reeponds more readily than the mind. In the late after-
noon you may perhaps observe aorae three hundred
patients well enough to walk about, but still dead to the
world of human interests. They are seated under the
trees, grouped around a few Y. M. C. A, entertainers who
with banjo, mandolin, and victrola are trying through
popular Italian aira to coax their souls back to the land
of the living. Singing to the normal Italian is as natural
as breathing. And as a few thin voices here and there
timidly break into song, one feels that at least some of
these wastrels of war are being recovered.

The American Eed Cross established oiJy two hospitals
for the Italians, and these were for refugees. One was
on the Adriatic Coast at Rimini and the other was in
Sicily, at Canicattini Bagni.

Eighteen thousand Venetian refugees had been housed
in seaside villages stretching along the shores of the
Adriatic for a distance of forty kilometers, with Rimini
approximately as the center. They were without proper
nourishment or clothiug during the most severe climatic
conditions that Italy has to offer, and many Buccumbed to
disease. The small civil hospital at Kimini was utterly
inadequate to meet the demands, and the American Red
Cross obtained through the Italian Government the
Oapizio Comasco situated in this town, a building belong-
ing to the city of Como and formerly used for summer
colonies of scrofulous children, remodeled it and turned it
into a hospital with one hundred and fifty beds. There
was a larger building for surgical and ordinary medical
cases and a smaller one with twenty-five beds for those
suffering from infectious diseases. The Director and the
entire personnel of this hospital, with the exception of
the nurses, were Italian, the doctors, for the most part,

96 THE AMEBICAN BSD CROSS IN ITJLLY

supplied by the Italian Government or volunteering their
services. At first the nurses were both American and
Italian, but after the first of June the Italian nurses were
replaced by American. A special ambulance service made
it possible for this hospital to care for the sick in this en-
tire group of refugees, in spite of the distance which
separated them. During the year of its operation it re-
ceived 1533 patients, and when it was closed in December
provision was made for the care of the few remaining
patients at the Civil Hospital, which fell heir to a good
equipment of hospital supplies from the Bed Cross estab-
lishment.

Canicattini Bagni is a rural mountain town of fourteen
thousand inhabitants situated fifteen miles west of Syra-
cuse, with which city it was connected before the war by
an auto-bus. With the outbreak of hostilities all cars were
requisitioned for military use, and the isolation of Cani-
cattini was complete. Life moved on uneventfully in this
sleepy old town under the clear Sicilian skies, the delicate
green of the century-old olive trees that covered the moun-
tain slopes giving an air of special peace and quiet. Only
the deserted streets and the empty places of fathers and
sons in the homes brought to these simple country folk
the realization that all was not well with the world.

Then one day, almost without warning, the war was
brought very near, as carriage after carriage rolled into
the town bringing what seemed an endless stream of
refugees from the invaded provinces of the north. These
people had been among the last to leave Udine and had
experienced the full terrors of the disastrous retreat. The
horror of it was still written on their faces. And they
were hungry and half clad and many were sorely in need
of medical attention. There were over five hundred
refugees to be housed and clothed and fed by this little
town already so poor as scarcely to be able to care for its
own population. Into every habitable nook they were
tucked*

'Hospitals — dispensaeies

A small hospital of twenty beds wag at once opened for
tiie moat desperately sick, that is, if beds and patients
can make a hospital, for there was nothing else to indicate
its use. But it so happened that there was an American
woman living in this town, the wife of an Italian physician
who had thrown up his practice in Chicago ten days after
the outbreak of the war and rushed to the aid of his native
land, and was aerring at the front, having left his wife in
this secluded spot. But she was herself also a doctor
and prior to her medical course had been a trained nurse
at Battle Creek. To her the Mayor appealed to take
charge of the newly opened hospital. She at once closed
her office, moved over her private equipment, which was
all inadequate, and assumed the heavy burden. Finding a
couple of promising looking refugees she dressed them in
sheets and called them nurses and set them to work. Then
she opened an ambulatory service for patients not needing
hospital care. Piteous were the cases which came for
help. It was often warm clothing rather than medicine
that was needed. All that she had she gave, but it did
not go very far, and daily she prayed for help. And then
one day a representative of the American Red Cross un-
expectedly appeared. " I was so surprised," she writes,
" to see a real live American after my two years of seclu-
sion, 30 moved by his typical American business air and
dash of sympathetic generosity, that I could apeak neither
my native nor my acquired tongue. He left behind hma
the first ray of hope. At last we were to have a good sup-
ply of condensed milk and hospital furnishings. And he
left money with the Prefect of Syracuse to take care of
most urgent needs." This is the way the Red Cross
stumbled across the hospital at Oanicattiui Bagni. On
March 1, 1918, it was completely taken over by the Red
Cross and known thereafter as the " Martha Washington
Hospital." At the same time its energetic directress was
made local representative of the American Red Cross.
During the year of its operation (before and after it oame

98 THE AMERICAN BED GROSS IN ITALT

under the Bed Crose) this little hospital with its am-
bulatory service made the following record: 272 patients
received in the hospital; 1410 medical visits made; 9721
treatments and medications ; and 70 minor operations.

And before many days had elapsed our newly appointed
delegate had in smooth running order^ besides the hospi-
tal, an asilo with one hundred diildren under six years of
age, a school of feminine industries, a carpenter diop and
a school of music. And nowhere in America could you
find a group of children who could sing the Star Spangled
Banner better or with more gusto than those Bed Cross
children at Canicattini.

Probably no Bed Cross dollars paid better or prompter
dividends than those spent in the care of the children of
the soldiers and the refugees who were from the first the
special charge of the American Bed Cross. Upon many
thousands of these children the cruel hand of war had
left its mark in pale faces, old beyond their years, and in
emaciated halfnatarved bodies which fell a ready prey to
disease. The American Bed Cross carried on a number
of activities for the help of these poor little wrecks of
humanity and had the satisfaction of seeing them in every
case strengthened in physique, and generally transformed
after a few months of care into rosy-cheeked, healthy,
happy, normal children.

The most widespread of these activities consisted in
supplementary feeding, that is, the adding of certain
needed food staples to the diet of children not directly
under the care of the American Bed Cross. More than
one hundred thousand children were benefited in this way
through Bed Cross diet kitchens and through milk and
flour distributions. Milk throughout Italy was exceed-
ingly scarce and white flour was unknown. But there is
hardly a town or village in all of Italy now that is not
familiar with some brand of American condensed milk.
Cans literally by the million were used, the milk being

dilated and dispensed according to the age and need
the child. White flour, which was uaed in all districts in
American Red Cross institutions, was in some parts of
Italy, where food conditions were particularly bad, —
Naples, the province of Calabria, and Sardinia, — exten-
sively distributed to Italian institutions caring for orphans
and children of soldiers and refugees. The American
Eed Cross established and succeaafully operated nine dis-
pensaries (not including those established after the
Armistice in the redeemed districts), which chiefly, but by
no means exclusively ministered to the needs of children.
and became also centers for district nursing. They were
situated at Cesanatico, Bellaria, Chioggia, Genoa, Flor-
ence, Naples, Avellino, Villa San Giovanni and Taormina.
The average number of cases treated monthly ranged from
275 to 8500. One of the most successful of these dispens-
aries was at Genoa which was nm iu cooperation with the
local organization, the "Died per Vno," each of whose
members has assumed the obligation of watching over the
care of ten children. Since most of these people were
identified with local charities it was possible through them
to reach the cases of greatest need. This dispensary while
under the supervision of the American Eed Cross, was in
charge of an Italian woman physician. At Florence the
dispensaries took the form of Aiuti Maiemi, of which
there were three, each under the supervision of a woman
physician with a registered nurse in charge. These were
somewhat similar to what are known as milk stations in
America except that in addition to supplying the neces-
sary food for under-nourished nursing mothers and chil-
dren under the age of five, a certain amount of medical
advice and care was given when necessary. In general,
in these dispensaries, the American Red Cross provided
medical advice, adequate daily care and the necessary
medicines. E^s, milk, broth and infants' food were
wherever there was need. In almost every case the

^^L medicini
^^M given w1

100 THE AMEBICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

Italian doctors served as volunteers^ and to their interest
and kindly cooperation much of the success of this woik
was due.

In the hospital care of children, the Bed Cross has pre-
ferred to strengthen existing institutions rather than to
create new ones. In some cases it maintained special
wards. Thus at the Villa Dini Hospital in Naples it
provided equipment and medicines and the services of a
special nurse for a Red Cross ward of twenty-five beds,
where it was privileged to send children from its own in-
stitutions. At Palermo it took over a ward of thirty beds
in a seaside hospital, that it might have a place to send
children whose cases were too severe for treatment in its
convalescent home. Wards were maintained in hospitals
at Florence and Avellino. In Venice there was a new
and thoroughly modem hospital all but ready to open when
the big retreat brought the enemy to the gates, and the
constant menace of invasion paralyzed the life of the city.
In the fall of 1918 the American Eed Cross with the
help of local officials completed the equipment of this hos-
pital, filled it with sick children, most of whom had been
in its care during the summer, and operated it until the
authorities were prepared to take it over.

Convalescent homes, designed to give special care and
feeding to children threatened with chronic weakness, were
established in various parts of Italy. Of these the one
most nearly resembling a hospital in equipment and or-
ganization was at Taormina in Sicily.^ The institution
at Milan known as the Convitto Affori was a sort of
combination of convalescent home and school, and was
designed to serve as a demonstration center of modem
methods in physical and mental education. The Ameri-
can Eed Cross undertook the support for a year of one
hundred delicate orphans of war and children of soldiers
at this institution, and remodeled an old monastery for
its use in accordance with the progressive ideas of the

1 Set pag9 1^.

■ ttli

S=DISFENSABIES

^Assoeiaxione per le Scuole, an institution well known in
Ttaly> which will continue to run it. Other convalescent
homea were established at Albori and Raito beautifully
situated on the hills overlooking the Bay of Salerno, at
Bologna (Villa delle Rose), and at Messina.

As a natural outgrowth of its work for the relief of chil-
dren, the American Red Cross organized in August, 1918,
a Children's Health Bureau, which was designed to extend
the aid and influence of the Red Cross to the homes, and
make a beginning in individual work for the children who
had hitherto been eared for only in the mass. For this
it was first necessary to provide a corps of health visitors.
These were Italian women chosen because they had a
background of practical experience and evinced a sincere
desire for service. They were given a three weeks' course
of intensive training in the American Red Cross Hospital
at Milan. This course was partly theoretical — lectures
by nurses, social workers, and Italian doctors on hygiene,
the causes and prevention of infection, the care and feed-
ing of children, the principles of district visitation, and the
value of play ; partly practical — demonstration classes
in the care and feeding of babies, the preparation of food,
Ae cleaning of rooms, the isolation of patients, etc. Great
stress was laid on the necessity of resourcefulness in the
use of material at hand, on the importance of cleanliness,
and on the gospel of light, air, and sunshine. Two clasaes
were trained at Milan in accordance with this program.

The plan was to have these women work in groups
under the direction of someone with special training in
this particular field, each of the district visitors being at-
tached to a Red Cross Day Nursery which should serve*

a demonstration center for the mothers of the neighhor-
lood and which was to he equipped with the medical sup-
Itlies necessary for carrying on the work.

This scheme offered special possibilities in localities
where the percentage of illiteracy was high and con-
ee^ently the baneful influence of tradition and aupersti-

1Q2 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

lion particularly strong. Two centers were chosen for the
initial experiment. One was in the Abruzzi, in five vil-
lages grouped about the town of Aquila. Each of these
communities cooperated with the Ked Cross, supplying
the buildings and sharing the cost of their preparation for
day nursery uses. The other center was in the Boman
District where the district visitors were attached to already
existing Eed Cross asUi at Frascati, Monterosi, and
Faleria. The sudden outbreak of the influenza epidemic
delayed the beginning of this work, but as the district visi-
tors were immediately assigned to their respective com-
munities to aid in this emergency they acquired a personal
knowledge of the needs of their communities which proved
of special value when once the work was begun.

iSie signing of the Armistice prevented the further
extension of this form of relief. But in every town where
the bureau^s workers had been employed the citizens ex-
pressed the desire that the work be carried on, and the
American Bed Cross provided means for its continuance
until June 1, 1919, working through local committees
which thereafter assumed full responsibility, hoping to
raise the funds to make these institutions permanent.

Probably nowhere in Europe is the welfare of children
regarded more as a matter of public concern than in Italy,
which is preeminently a children-loving nation. In many
sections indeed ignorance prevails and the dead hand of
the past 7/ests like a pall upon the present, producing con-
ditions tiiat bear hard upon the lives of the children, con-
ditions that are patiently endured just because they have
always existed; all of which is apt to give a wrong im-
pression to the casual observer. One striking manifesta-
tion of this interest in children is found in the fact that
in the summer of 1918 the popular summer resorts in
Italy were largely turned over to their use. The beaches
of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic, the terraces of
once-fashionable mountain hotels were thronged with chil-
dren sent for a summer outing by the various Italian

HOSPITALS — DISPENSARIES 103

philanthropic societies. But the poverty produced by the
war had forced retrenchment at a time when the need
was greatest, and the American Red Cross stepped in to
help. For example, an organization of Milan that had
been in the habit of seeding five thousand chiidrea of
that city for a month's outing was forced to cut the
number to three thousand. The American Ited Crosa
promptly assumed responsibility for the remaining two
thousand. And scattered over Italy were summer colonies
for children, some thirty in all, under the banner of the
American Red Cross, bringing sunshine and health into the
lives of seven thousand waifs of the war. The children,
selected from the families of soldiers and refugees, were
all delicate and threatened with chronic illness, due largely
to malnutrition and bad housing conditions.

A typical colony was Monte Luco, a beautiful mountain
overlooking the picturesque old town of Spoleto and the
Umbrian plain with Trevi and Assisi in the distance. An
boar's climb from Spoleto, up a narrow mule path wind-
ing through a grove of ilex trees, brought one to the top,
where seven large tents floating the American and Italian
flags provided shelter for one hundred and twenty chil-
dren between the ages of four and twelve. Spoleto itself
took as much pride in this institution as did the Red
Cross, supplying soldiers to prepare the ground, teachers
and attendants to take charge of the children and furnish-
ing lights and telephone, while a doctor and dentist from
the town volunteered their services, spending a day of
each week at the camp. The fresh air, the supervised
exercise and recreation, the hygienic care and, above all,,i
the liberal and well balanced feeding soon hore fruit.
Visiting the camp gome weeks after it had been started one
could hardly believe that these children crowding around
the Red Cross representative, to give him a welcome such
as only Italian children know how to give, radiantly happy
and pictures of health, were the same youngsters who had
with difficulty climbed the mountain a short time before.

\m "Witn oimcuity ciimDea me mountain a snore tmie oeiore. ^

104 THE AMEBIGAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

Even their mothers scarcely recognized them, and the
gratitude of the soldier fathers visiting the camp when
tibej returned on leave was most touching. But the grati-
tude was not confined to the parents. A Ked Cross in-
spector sitting on the edge of a table talking with one of
the attendants was nearly bowled over when a little tot'
of four, who had quietly clambered up on the other side
of the table, suddenly tbrew his arms around him and ex-
claimed with genuine depth of feeling "Viva America!
Viva America 1 *'

There were six American Bed Cross tent colonies in the
Island of Sardinia, three in the mountains and three on
the sea, which were particularly successfuL The Sards
are proud and often refuse to accept pity or assistance in
their troubles and misery. And when the Eed Cross
opened the inscription list for children from one town in
sore need, not one mother would enroll her child* The
Committee formed in this town by the invitation of the
American Eed Cross to manage the camp hit upon this
clever ruse. They set up in the principal square of the
city one of the large Ked Cross tents, prepared cots with
clean linen and fresh blankets, set out the garments made
for the children, exhibited the white flour, condensed milk,
lard, and other food supplies furnished by the Eed Cross,
and over the tent placed the Stars and Stripes and the tri-
color of Italy. Their pride was immediately conquered.
Within an hour thirty children had been inscribed, and a
doctor was busy inspecting them to determine whether or
not they should be admitted to the camp. The coopera-
tion between the Eed Cross and the people was more com-
plete and more intimate in Sardinia than anywhere else.
The communities benefited adopted the colonies with en-
thusiasm and worked with a will for their success. Gen-
erally they were placed in charge of Sisters of Charity
and managed by a group of leading citizens, whose wives
made all the necessary clothing for the children from
materials -^^^ished by the Eed Cross, and frequently

HOSPITALS — DISPENSAHiSS

volunteered their services aa overseers of the camps.

Especially gratifying were the results obtained in the
camps on the beaches where the sun cure combined with
sea bathing and nourishing food brought about cures which
often seemed almost miraculous. Here the children would
pass the day in the open air exposed to the sun and dressed
in bathing suits only, going in bathing or playing in the
sand according to the prescription of the doctor, watched
oYer by a group of kindly signorinas. One little fellow af-
fected with a form of tuberculosis of the spinal column,
when he first came to camp could not stand up and re-
mained near the tent unable to move and taking no in-
terest in the other children. His chance of recovery
seemed doubtful indeed. Twenty days after he had en-
tered the camp he was not only on his feet, but running
and jumping with the other children, having gained over
twelve pounds in weight. At one of the seaside colonies,
out of two hundred scrofulous children one hundred and
seventy returned entirely cured. At all of the camps, here
as well as on the mainland, the gain iu weight of the chil-
dren was truly remarkable.

The mothers often came from distant villages, walk-
ing many miles to visit their children and were always
overwhelmed with delight at the care their little ones were
receiving and their evident improvement in health. The
news was always promptly sent to the fathers at the front
who never failed to send warm expressions of gratitude.

The so-called " Spanish influenza," which was epidemic
in most countries in the fall of 1918, struck Italy with
particular severity, especially in the central and southern
parts, where, owing to poverty and shortage of supplies
occasioned by the war, undernourishment was imiveraal
and where it was frequently all but impossible to get the
drugs, disinfectants, or medical supplies essential for re-
lief. In some communities as high as fifty per cent of
the population caught the dread disease. The mortality
was frightful. Something like a panic seized the people,

106 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

especially the more ignorant peasantry, who were afraid
to attend the sick or bury the dead or even to do the neces-
sary washing.

The elastic organization of the American Sed Cross
proved its value in this crisis. The different departments,
Civil Affairs, Medical Affairs, and the Department of
Tuberculosis, cooperated, concentrating their resources in
personnel and equipment on the task of fighting the dis-
ease. In the districts most stricken all regular activities
of the American Ked Cross were temporarily suspended
and the personnel at each center transformed itself into
a nursing and sanitary corps to aid the local doctors.
Some sixty conmiunities were assisted with anywhere from
one to a thousand pounds of drugs, disinfectants and other
medical supplies such as syringes, thermometers, ice packs,
hot water bags, towels, and handkerchiefs. And con-
densed milk and beef extract were sent in every direction
in large quantities. Owing to the difficulties and uncer-
tainties of railway transportation this relief was, when-
ever possible, hurried by special messengers in camions to
places of need.

In the Avellino district centers of milk distribution and
of general assistance were established in ten different
towns. In the city of Avellino, the American Red Cross
organized and directed street cleaning, house cleaning, and
disinfecting squads. It also opened a general dispensary,
and a shelter for children taken from stricken households.
In Naples, while much work was done in the city itself,
where a dispensary and children's aid station was estab-
lished in the Galleria Yittorio, the greatest need was found
in the small villages of the Posillipo section, where the
lack of medical and nursing care and the acute shortage
of milk had brought about alarming conditions. Here
American Red Cross workers carried on a house to house
visiting. A center for the distribution of broth and milk
was promptly established at PosiUipo itseK, which also

HOSPITALS — DISPENSARIES 107

served as a clinic, furnished medicines, and, when neces-
,ry, clothing and blankets as well.

One day the Mayor of Sezze accompanied by a doctor

the Italian Army appeared at American Red Cross
leadquarters in Rome and told the story of the critical
conditions that existed in their little town of thirteen
thousand inhabitants perched on a hill in the heart of the
Pontine marshes. The people of this town, malarial sub-
jects from their work in the low-lying fields of the marsh
district, had fallen easy victims of the epidemic. Six
per cent of the population had died in two weeks. The
life of the town was practically paralyzed. Many had
fled into the country, while others had shut themselves
up in their houses, so that Sezze with its deserted streets
seemed like a city of the dead. They had no means of
caring for the sick, "Within forty-eight hours after hear-
ing this tale the American Red Cross had a hospital of
forty beds, thoroughly equipped, established in a building
that had formerly been a convent, vrith three American
nurses and an American doctor in charge. The assist-
ance of the American Red Cross undoubtedly saved this
town from great disaster. Though it was continued only
aor a few weeks it gave the people courage as well as an
Importunity to meet their own difficulties. The town
authorities showed great initiative and every desire to
bear their own burdens, asking nothing but to be assisted
in getting on their own feet. Orphaned children left in
the wake of the scourge they promptly gathered into a
local convent, the American Red Cross providing food.
and clothing and medical care.^ The gratitude of the
town of Sezze for the help ejrtended by the American Red'
~ 'oas was feelingly expressed in proclamations posted

oughout the city as well as in scores of letters from her

izens sent to headquarters in Rome.

Probably the largest single contribution of the Ami
Red Cross to this crisis was the distribution of hun-

108 THE AMEBIGAN BED CROSS IN ITALT

dreds of thousands of cans of condensed milk. Italy was
suffering from a fresh milk f amine, and American con-
densed milk which was sent all over Italy came as a
special boon to the sick children. In the Avellino dis-
trict alone in the months of October and November half
a million quarts of properly diluted condensed milk were
distributed.

,|5-.--|..,

-^■•.|-.%ifEl§-J Jkt

OHAPTEE Vn

A Tour through Italy in the wake of the Ked Cross — Genoa -^
Turin — Milan — Padua — Venice — Florence

The chapters that have gone before have given a com-
prehensive description of the work that the American Red
Cross accomplished with and for the Italians both on the
fighting front, through its ambulances and canteens and
its assistance to hospitals, and on the " inner front,"
through its broad measures for civilian relief. The ac-
companying map gives a graphic representation of the
extent and distribution of that work. Its character, how-
ever, differed much in different localities, and to com-
plete the story it is necessary to take a rapid tour through
Italy in the wake of the American Ked Cross, noting the
unique features that have not as yet been described. No
attempt will be made to give a complete account of the ac-
tivities in the different districts nor will the relative
amount of apace given to the different regions be any indi-
cation of the relative importance of the work done there.
Home, for example, where perhaps a larger amount of work
was done than anywhere else, will come in for but a few
pages, since most of its activities not already described were
of the normal kinds. These differences in Red Cross work
were partly due to the individuality of the delegates, but
chiefly to conditions determined by the nearness or remote-
ness from the fighting zone, or by the divergencies in
cliuiate, prosperity and literacy, which were often very
great. In the matter of literacy alone the range was from
11 per cent of illiterates in the Provinces of Piedmont and
Lombardy to nearly 70 per cent in Puglie, Calabria, and
Sicily. Owing to these differences and also to the survival

110 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

of rivalries dating from the time when Italy had been di-
vided into different political units under foreign domina-
tion, the unity of Italy before the war had been in name
rather than in fact. That is, while the people all over Italy
were united in loyalty to the King and devotion to the
country, they still cherished the old superiorities. The
people of Lombardy, for example, thought themselves a
little better than the Piedmontese, were on speaking terms
with the Veneto, looked with contempt on southern Italy
and as for Calabria and Puglie, they simply did not exist.
But during the war many a brigade from the poorer and
more ignorant sections acquitted itself gloriously in battle,
and there were undoubtedly some from the more favored
regions whose record is not above reproach. So one of
the effects of the war has been to bring about a better un-
derstanding and a readjustment of valuations, and in the
process Italy has become united in spirit more than ever
she was before.

GENOA

Americans who have visited Genoa will remember the
beautiful palace of the King situated on one of the steep
slopes rising from the harbor. The building is beauti-
fully landmarked from the waterfront by palms and a
fountain in the foreground, and above the great build-
ing of stone with two wings stretching out towards the sea.
When King Victor Emanuel found that a large space
would be needed to store the goods coming into the port
of Genoa from America intended for distribution among
the refugees and the wives and children of soldiers fight-
ing at the front, he immediately directed that a part of
this palace be turned over to the American Eed Cross for
warehouse purposes. Here in what were formerly the
royal stables and riding school were stored the supplies
used in the Genoa District. American bacon and beans
and barreled beef and flour filled the stalls where once
the 'worses of the royal family lived in equine

L TOUR THROUffffWiiS"

luxury. But this was only one of many warehouaes in
Genoa, for almost all of the Amerioan Red Cross sup-
plies that came to Italy in auch generous quantities
entered through this port. To handle these auppliea re-
quired six warehouses on the Genoa docks. Much of the
material sent to Switzerland for prisoners' relief also
passed through these warehouses. Incidentally the Eed
Cross cleared and transported all the Y.M.C.A. supplies
for Italy, Often the goods were checked into the port
warehouse and immediately checked out again and started
for their destinations, the various Ked Cross warehouses
in Italy. When once the work of the Commission was
fully under way, an average of from fifteen to twenty
carloads of goods left the Genoa docks every day, carrying
far and near the material which kept all the Hed Cross
ftctivities in Italy going.

TTHIN

Turin, the first large city reached on entering Italy
from France, was at all times ready and prepared to give
the American soldiers a welcome on their arrival, but in
view of the small number of Americans sent to Italy had
little opportunity to show how much it could do.^ Ent a
station canteen and rest house furnished food daily for
five hundred allied soldiers and cared for three hundred
at night.

The city of the automobile, the home of the Fiat, the
Detroit of Italy, a city of many war industries, there was
always plenty of work in Turin, and the hardships of war
■were less in evidence here than elsewhere. Local chari-
table organizations did much, especially for the children,
and the American Red Cross gave its assistance largely
through these institutions, supplying the things that could
with difficulty be procured in Italy. It did, however,
organize, equip, and operate three homes for war orphans,
one of these being comfortably established in a spacious
I See page 161.

113 THE AMERICAN RED CB08B IN HALT

villa that had formerly been the property of the Gennan
Consul in Turin. Its large yard with its big shade trett
made a fine playground for the Red Cross youngsters nho
established thcniiielves in firm possession and were ahappj
family. It was a special satisfaction to see this pali^
German villa put to such gentle and humane uflSi
Through the Turin center the Red Cross also provided
twelve thousand Polish prisoners of war in eamp at
Chivas.so with many comforts, such as underwear, socb^
and smoking tobacco, not to mention the small item of
25,000 envelopes and paper.

MILAN

The city of Milan received less than its share of reoogni-
tiou from the tourists of pre-war days. It was regarded in
the main as a city that had to be passed through on the way
to more picturesque and interesting cities farther east and
south, deserving only a brief stop, — long enough for a
view of the famous Cathedral, and the old market place,
a tour of the gallery and a glimpse of the remains oi
Leonardo's masterpiece. But during the past few years
Milan has come into its own. Capital of the rich and
populous Province of Lombardy, with its many industrial
centers, all working overtime to provide the sinews of
war, the great military center for the armies of the allied
nations, it has come to be recognized as about the most
important city of the realnou Now the people of Lom-
bardy are most loyal ; but there is no doubt that they were
in a low state of mind after Caporetto, when the refugees
began to pour in by the tens of thousands, and it seemed
to be only a question of time when the Germans would
take Milan. Lombardy was always keenly conscious of
the war and its menace. For thousands of years when-
ever there had been a war she had been the coveted prize.
Also one must remember that the German hold upon
Milan through control of its banks and industries was par-
ticularly strong; and while the people hated the Austrians>

ifm THROUGH ITALY

aj was their

they had been made to believe that Germany i
friend and would see to it that Italy got her due from
Austria. So the German propagandists had found an
especially fertile field here. They worked with the anti-
war socialists and after Caporetto became particularly of-
fensive.

The American Red Cross stepped in when the situation
was at its darkest and working through the energetic
American Committee for Relief in Lombardy gave prompt
and lavish aid. It was necessary to show to the people
that America was with them in the war and to show them
at once and in a big way. That mistakes were madej
that enterprises were started which had to be abandoned
goes without saying, but the need was for immediate ac-
tion, and the result sought was achieved. Tor some time
it was a good part of the task of the American Red Cross
representatives to go to every public function and show
themselves. They wore the American uniform and were
the advance guard of the American Army. The patriotic
Italians not only worked with them; they played them up.
As the weeks went on and the refugees became absorbed
in the life of the community, and the problem of their
relief less pressing, the work of the American Red Cross
branched out in every direction until it might be said
without exaggeration that every phase of the work for
himianity done under the Geneva flag found expression
here.

Extending for miles out into the country from Milan
are flat green fields partly submerged in water. They are
neither swamps nor marsh lands, those waving fields of
tender green, bordered by rows of slender willows. They
ajo the famous rice fields of Lombardy, Here and there
flcattered across them you might have seen in the month
of June groiips of half-crouching, half-bending women,
their feet and ankles in water, their faces hidden by
drooping broad-brimmed hats, patiently pulling up the
-weeds. It was a monotonous and back-breaking task, hut

lU THE AMEBIGAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

always enlivened and made endurable by song. For as
they worked they sang — a sort of chanty at once happy
and plaintive, quite in keeping with the scene and tiie
setting, and not unlike the song of the darkies in our
cotton fields at home.

One care at least had been lifted from the minds of
these patient mothers as they worked and sang in the
rice fields, leaving the younger women free to take the
places of men in the industries. Their babies were being
well cared for. The American Red Cross in cooperation
with the Italian authorities aided in the establishment
and maintenance of day nurseries for these babies
throughout the rice district. Like mushrooms they
cropped up over night, — sixteen in the space of two
weeks, — some established in public schools, some in
convents in charge of soft-voiced, black-robed nuns, and all
provided with yards in which the children played. In
some of the more pretentious nurseries were rooms with
rows of wooden cradles, handmade and solidly built, well
worn from many rockinffs, that have been handed down
through many generationf Mothers took pride in provid-
ing their children's cribs with the necessary coverlets, some
of them marvels of embroidery, done in happier days by
the women themselves. When the work was over they
would walk in a body, sometimes several miles, to the
day nursery in their district to claim their babies. It
was a pretty sight to see them, the children swinging
their little baskets, the smallest carried in their mothers'
arms or toddling along between older brothers and sisters,
as the family groups wended their way down the road
towards home, chatting eagerly about the small happenings
of the day. They were tired, these mothers, from their
day's work wading and weeding in the ric^ fields, but
happy in the knowledge that while the little store of
money was growing that would keep them from want
during the winter, their children were happy and well

I
I

cared for, getting fatter and rosier each day, thanks
the food and the sweet rieh milk from America,

Milan is a thoroughly modern city and incidentally one
of the hest governed cities in Europe. Ahout the only
good thing that it lacked that our cities in America possess
was a children's playground, — not a park where they
might parade, but a real playground all their own, where
they might romp and play to their heart's content — a
playground equipped with swings and teeter boards, fly-
ing rings and a shoot-tlie-chutes ; and with sand piles,
and the toys that go with them, for children too small for
the more hazardous games. The American Ked Cross
conceived the idea of supplying this lack. The Umanir
taria, a large and well managed charitable organization
of Milan, offered the ground, and the thing was done. It
■was the first playground of its kind in all of Italy, and it
was an imqualified success from the beginning. A3 many
as a thousand children a day enjoyed its privileges.
Groups of children would gather at the gate waiting for
the hour of nine to come, when the field was open, and
it was hard to drive them away at dusk when the time
arrived for closing. All sports had their partisans, but
the one that aroused the most enthusiasm was the toboggan
slide. The mats that had been provided for the children
to slide down on were soon discarded as wasting time,
or perhaps as taking away some of the thrill, and there
was often a steady stream of himianity sliding down the
boards, one child starting before his predecessor had
reached the bottom. At one side a little refuge had been
built where the children might come when weary of play,
and there was the ever present postcard with someone
always ready to assist the child who wanted to send a
message to his or her father at the front, and many mis-
fiivea were sent every day. A trained nurse was always
on hand to look after the physical welfare of the children.
And the games were supervised, with the aim of not

^L on hand

H^ And th£

116 THE AMEBIGAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

merely directing the enthusiasm and energy of youth, but
also teaching the children generosity and team work,
teaching them to play the game, and training them in
leadership.

PADTIA

The sub-districts of the American Eed Cross with
centers at Verona, Piacenza, and Vicenza, were wholly
concerned with work that was done directly with the
soldiers and with extending aid to front line hospitals.
But the headquarters for all American Bed Cross relief
work in the Veneto, exclusive of the Venice District, were
at Padua. Padua had always been a quiet, sleepy old
town, rich in monuments of the Middle Ages and the
Benaissance, visited by all art lovers who were especially
attracted by the frescoes of Giotto and the sculptures and
great equestrian statue by Donatello. But there was no
quiet in Padua after the Caporetto retreat Filled with
soldiers hurrying towards the front, officers' staff cars
dashing through the narrow streets with open exhausts
— there were no speed laws in the war zone — and heavy
army lorries lumbering along making the very ground
tremble, Padua was always the scene of feverish military
activity. And night after night, whenever the moon shone
clear, there were incessant air raids, one following another
in quick succession, sometimes as many as one hundred
bombs dropping in a single night. Houses hit fair and
square simply disappeared, leaving but a heap of rub-
bish. But it was not an infrequent experience in walk-
ing along the streets of Padua to find oneself suddenly con-
fronting a house whose outer wall had been neatly sliced
off, leaving the interior exposed to full view, the beds and
other furniture quite intact. Irreparable damage has been
done to some of the ancient monuments of Padua.* And
every raid took its tragic toll in killed and wounded.
These were almost invariably civilians, mostly women and
children, helpless victims of the crudest phase of the war,

A TOUR THROUGH ITALY 117

whoBe injuries or death brought not the slightest advant-
age to the enemy. Aa many of the population aa could
had left the city, but many thousands remained. And
these, in large numbers, whenever the moon appeared,
would seek refuge in the open fields beyond the town,
there spending the night as best they could, in all sorts of
weather. The life of the city was completely disorgan-
ized. All the industries had either closed down or moved
away. And the Red Cross problems in Padua were de-
termined hy these conditions.

The first step taken was the establishment of a large
workroom for the making of garments, which ultimately
employed three hundred women, members of soldiers'
families, and served the double duty of giving employ-
ment to the needy and providing in large quantities gar-
ments for the poor. This workroom was run in close co-
operation with a local Italian Committee, on whose ad-
vice the garments were sold rather than given away, both
because it was felt that giving away was demoralizing
and because it was clear that the Italian authorities would
be unable subsequently to continue the precedent of giv-
ing, so that for the Red Cross to initiate such a program
would result later in invidious comparison and invite
discontent. The goods were therefore sold, at the bare
cost of labor, only those citizens being privileged to buy
whose eases had been investigated, and these were pro-
vided with tickets according to their needs. The sales,
held in the loggia of the Salone della Ragione, were a
great success, and this method of distribution met with
the high approval of the public authorities. Towards the
middle of the year this work-room, like the rest of the

miuaie ui tue _year luis wurii-ruum, iijiu lub reau ui luw j

Red Cross workrooms in Italy, made children's clothes J

only, and these were used in Red Cross institutions, the M

public sales being discontinued, fl

Universal unemployment had caused an unprecedented ■

demand upon the public kitchens that had been established J
1^^ by local Italian organizations, and the Bed Cross, by the^^J

I , M

118 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

generous supply of food stuffs from America, enabled them
to meet this demand and continue their good work.

There were a number of asili for the children of Padua
already in existence and these were all assisted by the
Red Cross with food and clothing. Outside the city of
Padua, in widely scattered districts distributed throu^-
out the whole of the Veneto, the Red Cross established
its own institutions for children, until over six thousand
in all had been brought directly or indirectly under its
care.

Fully half of these were real waifs of the war who
had lived for three years in the midst of the back-wash
of the fighting armies, within the sound of the guns that
had made many of them orphans. There were fourteen of
these institutions in the vicinity of the war zone. The
smallest of all, but in its human aspect the most appeal-
ing, was an orphanage for girls which had been so battered
about by the hazards of war that its original number of
one hundred had been reduced to thirteen. This orphan-
age had been founded in 1901 at Materello, a town that the
pre-war maps place in Austria, but that in reality was in
the heart of the Italian region of the Trentino. This in-
stitution had been foimded in order to give to " the futoire
mothers of the Trentino a Christian education full of
healthy patriotic sentiments, strictly Italian." This was
not an easy matter under the eyes of the strict Austrian
administration. But the Sisters in charge found many
ways to express their sentiments. Their habit was white
with a narrow piping of green and the device of their
order displayed on a red background, thus ingeniously
flaunting the Italian colors in the very face of the Austrian
oppressor. At the beginning of the war the Sisters had
been ordered by the Austrian authorities to remove their
little charges farther back into the interior. They
promptly disregarded this order and, acting quickly, sent
as mar^ Httle girls as they could to relatives of

who' 'taly they were sure; and with the re-

A TOUK THROUGH ITALY

I maiTiing thirty-eight, the eight Sisters brarely aet forth,
not back into Austria, as ordered, but towards Italy.
They succeeded in reaching Avio, where their secret hope
was realized — they were captured by the Italian Army.
For some time they were cared for by the military authori-
ties, but the vicissitudes of war had been many, and,
out of thirty-eight children and eight devoted nuns who
■were the victims of that welcome capture, only thirteen
dhildren and three nuns remained in the aimimer of
1918, when the American Red Cross took them under its
wing and continued to care for them until they were
able to return under the victorious Italian Army to their
old home in MatereUo.

The Red Cross kept at all times in olose touch with
front dressing stations and war zone hospitals, and through
its large warehouses established in Padua was able to
supply field hospitals abundantly and promptly, espe-
cially in times of activity. On one occasion during the
October offensive the English hospitals near the Piave
north of Treviso ran short of supplies and when they ap-
plied to the American Red Cross, it was a particular
satisfaction to be able to meet their needs.

Once during the summer when malaria was at its height

an urgent message was received at Padua from an Italian

general, whose division was located on the lower Piave,

that they were entirely out of quinine and could get none

from the Italian authorities. This message was received

at noon. There was no quinine at the time in Padua and

a telegram was sent to Rome. And that very night a

special messenger was sent with over one hundred thou-

^^ sand pills, which were delivered the next morning to the

^^L general, whose gratitude was only equalled by his sur-

^^B prise and admiration for the promptness of the response.

VENICE

Venice, the fair, Venice the beloved, city of romanoe
and mystery, seemed to acquire a new, if tra^Cj beauty

^■^ i

r
I

IJO THE AMEEICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

aod tm added fascination under the grim shadow of the
war. After the Caporetto retreat which had brought
Venice within fourteen miles of the Austrian guns and
made it subject to constant air raids, there was a con-
tinuous exodus of her citizens. But some forty thousand
were left. All the industries were shut down; even the
stores, save those that provided the barest necessities, were
closed ; and there were no tourists, all the hotels, save one,
having been requisitioned by the Government, mainly for
hospital use. The condition of the forty thousand who
were left, with no means of livelihood, was pitiable in the
extreme. But their fortitude in their suffering, their
never-failing confidence in victory, and the fine spirit
shown by all in cooperating for the common good cast
an added glory on this Queen of the Adriatic.

Venice was the most difficult place in Italy to visit
during the war. It was more difficult in fact to pass
through her sentried gates than to make a totir of the
front line trenches, as if, somehow, fate were trying to
shield her in her suffering from prying eyes. The simple
fact is that Venice was imder the Department of the
Marine and guarded with that careful jealousy which the
Navy always affects. It was no easy matter to obtain the
necessary permission from the Ministry of Marine in
Kome and, that received, when once at the gates of
Venice, one must stand and wait while ofGcera telephoned
to the Naval Base to see whether Home had properly
advised it of the name and identity of the visitor. If by
chance that formality had been overlooked, the gates of
Venice remained closed. Once this barrier was passed,
having real business in Venice, you probably found a motor
launch awaiting you. If this was not there you were lucky
to find a gondola, in charge not of a gay young boatman
aa in former days, but of an old man with wrinkled face
and shabby clothes, a gondolier emeritus, who had emerged
from his retreat to take the place of his son who had been
called to th" ' "8. All was quiet and still on the Grand

i IfOtJB THROtTGH ITAlt"'

Canal save for the chugging of motor boats speeding on
their errands of war. You might indeed have gone the en-
tire length of the Grand Canal and scarcely seen another
gondola. The houses that line it seemed deserted, windows
and doors all shut ; the market place was empty ; and there
was no sign of life on the onee busy Rialto. An occasional
rent in the aide of the canal or scar on the front of a
building suggested the reason. Here was what onee was
Saint Simeon the Great, now a pillar and a pile of brick
with staging to support what was left. You arrived at last
at the Piazza San Marco, There was the new Campanile,
looking quite natural, though its sweet chimes had not
been heard for many months. And there were the familiar
pigeons. But the horses were gone from the old Cathedral.
They too were refugees and bad been carried clear to Home
for safety. The facade was completely hidden by sand-
bags, giving the Cathedral the air of a fortress. Brick
supports bad been built up under the arches of the Doges*
Palace, and each comer was protected by a massive block
of cement.

Venice at night was even stranger than by day. When
darkness closed in upon palace, lagoon, canal, and bridge,
the city could be feit rather than seen. One has beard
much of the darkness of London and Paris in these times
of war raids, but those cities were well lighted in com-
parison with Venice. There were, indeed, at long inter-
vals a few ghostly green lights whereby tbe experts could
steer their course. But people stumbled against each other
in the narrow streets and many who thought they knew
every stone in the city lost their way and fell into the
canals.

Where were the children that used to be so much in evi-
dence? Most of them were refugees who had been car-
ried to places of safety. But many were left and these
had been gathered into children's homes for tbeir better
protection. There were some twenty-five of these homes,
or asili, run by a Citizena' Committee and generously sup-

THE AM££ICAN BED CSOftS IN ITiXT

ported by the American Red Cross. In fact it may be
said without exaggeration that practically all of the chil-
dren of soldiers left in Venice came under the care of
the Red Cross. But Venice being subject to coastaat
air raids day and night, it was necessary for each asUo to
provide an underground refuge, a tomb-like retreat, shored
with heavy timbers and protected with piles of sandbags.
Whenever the siren blew its warning the children were
gathered here by the kindly Sisters who, in order that
terror might not be added to the sufferings of their little
wards, sometimes made a sort of game of the experience,
calling the children together when the warning came, say-
ing: "Now we shall go to the place where we always
fiing Viva il Be (Long Live the King)." Then the line
would form two by two. There was no hurrying, for
many of the children could hardly toddle, and hand in
hand they went to the subterranean school and remained
while airplanes whizzed above. In this dark refuge the
children sat huddled together and aang. But often the
enemy remained in the air a long time, and tired voices
dropped away to silence, and small heads fell over upon
shoulders of their baby comrades, sleep overcoming them
before the four blasts of the siren announced that danger
was over, when out they went singing once more " Viva il
Re" that somehow in their childish treble seemed a song
of victory won.

The problem of supplying food to the poor left behind
in this stricken city was met by the maintenance of seven
public soup kitchens — four in Venice, one in Burano,
one in Murano, and one in Chioggia. These were all
under local management, but were generously assisted by
the Red Cross with supplies suiEcient to provide in all
about eight hundred thousand rations. A free dispensary
for the families of soldiers, run by an Italian physician,
was assisted by the Red Cross which gave thousands of gal-
lons of fresh milk and babies' food.

deal was done in Venice for the soldiers them-

#
%

€
€
i

"I
i
C

A TOUK THEOUGH ITALY

133

_ eve

ijBlvea, both in and out of hospitala. Not only were quan- I
ttities o£ packages sent from there to the front for Boldiera '
;in the trenches, but distribution was also made at the
■Venice warehouse, to the soldiers on leave, of packages

jntaining, generally, underwear, socks, and cigarettes.

.bout twenty thousand soldiers were aided in this way.
Red Cross assistance was early extended to Chioggia I
Hot the relief of refugees leaving Venice by that door. |
But Chioggia, a large fishing port of some thirty-five I
thousand inhabitants, was in dire straits when the fish- ]
ing industry was forced to suspend on account of tho ]
ever present enemy submarines, and the American Eed I
"IroSB remained, under a local delegate, to cooperate in j
measures adopted for relief of the soldiers' families, j
And similarly lied Cross aid was extended all along the i
shores of the upper Adriatic, with headquarters at Rimini
and Ancona.

The extensive work in and about Venice was initiated
through the efforts of the American Consul, Mr. B. Harvey
Carroll, Jr., who had thrown himself with indefatig-
able energy into the work of relief immediately after the
Caporetto retreat and for many months acted as unofficial
representative of the American Eed Cross. By the spring ]
of 1918 the work had grown to such magnitude as to re- .
quire undivided attention and he felt compelled to resign,
and a special Red Cross delegate was sent to take his
place, assuming charge on the first of June. Under the
new delegate the work was intensified rather than ex-
tended. Direct supervision of the existing activities waa
made possible, closer personal relations were established,
and the methods of assistance were coordinated with those
in use throughout Italy. A visiting assistant nurse waa
sent among the asili to investigate the health conditions
and to assist not only by advice, but by offering her per-
sonal services in caring for the health of the children and
improving hygienic conditions.

Many of the children were found to be in a deplorable

124 THE AMERICAN KED CROSS IN ITALY

condition. So the idea was conceived of estabiishing a
home where the most sickly and under-nourished might
be kept day and night and given special care and, when
necessary, medical treatment. The success of the Italian
counter-ofFenaive in the early days o£ July removing the
enemy lines several miles farther away, siiggested the
possibility of establishing such a place at the Lido, where
the children might have the benefit of sim and sea
baths. Now the Lido was militarized to the last inch of
ground. There were several squadrons of air planes lo-
cated on the island, which made it a favorite objective
for Austrian air raids, and the hotels had either been re-
quisitioned for military use or filled with the furniture
taken from those that had been requisitioned. After
many difficulties and the untying of many knots, civil as
well as mOitary, the spacious ground floor of the Hotel
des Bains was secured. The hotel kitchen having been
burned down early in the war, a small kitchen was built
in two days with the help of soldiers from the garrison
at Venice. The plumbing was put in order by means
of pipe taken from other buildings for there was no pipe
to be bought in Venice. An interested colonel at the
Lido sent fifty men to put the place in order; a little
freight launch tugged one hundred and eighty beds and
all the furniture of the children's hospital in Venice to
the nearest landing place; Sisters appeared in their long
black robes, and maids in their white caps and aprons.
A Red Cross nurse arrived from Kome, bathing suits were
provided, the cupboard well stocked with clothes and
finally, the first week in August, the children arrived
and the place was formally opened.

The great ballroom on the ground floor, completely open
on all sides to the broad terraces, was filled with rows of
little blue and white beds, while the long vine covered
terrace on the ocean side contained low tables and chairs
where th" "■ ''dren ate their meals. There they spent
happy jen the sea and the pine woods, bathing

A TOUR THROUGH ITALY

and playing on the famous Lido sands. The children had
permission to use the beach for part of each day, under
certain restrictions, for every foot waa patrolled and the
beaches were covered with trenches and barbed wire en-
tanglements. But these barriers only gave added zest
to the games of the sunburned infanta who, in their bright
colored aprons, all initialled C. R. A. (Croce Rossa Ameri-
cana) and made by the soldiera' wives in Red Cross
workrooms in Venice, laughed and shouted In their play
and made of this part of "the front" the most cheerful
spot in the neighborhood of Venice. Three hundred chil-
dren enjoyed this care and cure before this colony waa
closed on the first of October. Then indeed it waa not
really closed, for, a short time after, in the unoccupied
children's hospital at Venice, one hundred of the most
needy were taken again under the charge of the Red Cross
which continued to run the place as a children's home
until the middle of February.

BXORENCE

There are but few of the many Americans who have
had the privilege of visiting Florence who have not come
under its spell. There is something in its equable climate,
neither too warm nor too cold, too wet nor too dry, that
invites one to remain; something in its blue Tuscan hills
dotted with homelike villas that begets affection; some-
thing in the atmosphere that clings to its historic monu-
ments and Kenaissance palaces that breathes of peace and
rest, — a mysterious influence that entices one to forget-
fulness of the sterner realities of life. The Florentines
themselves coma under this spell. They accepted the war
because they had to, but without any enthusiasm. It
took the hard blow of the Caporetto defeat to rouse them
to a full sense of their responsibility and bring them
wholeheartedly into the struggle. That blow fell upon
Florence with special severity. Being the great railway
terminal: from tiie north it was like the end of a hu^n

126 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

funnel through which the refugees poured, and at
time it was actually housing seventy thous&Dd refugees/
an enormous load for a city with a! normal population
of about two hundred thousand. On the very first day
that refugees began to arrive no less than nine thousand
came and were gathered (it would be more accurate to
say herded) into the cloisters and the church of Santa
Maria Novella. Of course these refugees were distrib-
uted southward as fast as arrangements could be made,
but twenty thousand remained as a charge upon Florence.
The people were thoroughly aroused. The menace of in-
difference had been made plain. Governmental and local
agencies rose promptly to the occasion; individuals gave
generously of their time and means ; and tbe American
Bed Cross through tbe Emergency Commission gave
lavishly.

It was some time, however, before the people of the
more ignorant class accepted the situation. Our Red
Cross officers when first they appeared, wearing the Amer-
ican uniform, were not infrequently attacked and sub-
jected to abuse. America's participation was regarded as
simply a prolonging of the war that had lasted too long
already. How this feeling was transformed was shown by
a little incident that occurred a few months later. In
the early spring the American Red Cross delegate was
out one night and, returning rather late, lost his way in
the darkened streets and before he knew where he was
found himself in a particularly turbulent quarter of the
city, where suddenly two men armed with knives fell
upon him. He succeeded in getting a grip on one of
them and holding him in front of him, with his back
against a wall, but he was hard beset. There was no
chance in a fight and no hope in the darkness in flight, ao
he decided to reason with them and began by explaining
that ho was the representative of the American Red Cross.
There was no need to go further. They at once desisted
from ' 'k and asked him why he had not said

A TOUB THROUGH ITALT

^37

80 at once. They then inaisted upon conducting him, one
on either side, to within a few blocks of his hotel, say-
ing that they did not dare to go farther for fear of
arrest, both being in fact deserters and forced to live in
hiding. But they explained that tbey were trying to find
some way of changing their names and getting back into
the service, and they besought his aid, saying that the
Red Cro33 through its assistance to the people in Flor-
ence had brought about this change of heart.

The work of the American Red Cross bad in fact
enormously expanded after those days early in November.
Some three hundred towns in the Province of Tuscany had
received in one form or another the assistance of the Red
Cross. And the work in Florence itself had expanded
until it reached over every part of the community. There
were of course the usual Red Cross institutions — work-
rooms, asili, soup kitchens, etc. There was also a certain
form of relief work undertaken here that was not dupli-
cated elsewhere. It began with an enormous distribu-
tion of clothing. The great Cinquecento Hall of the
Palazzo Vecchio was piled high with bundles of clothing,
each carefully numbered so that it might reach the family
for which it had been specially prepared. There were
nearly seventy thousand garments given away at this
time, reaching twelve thousand families of soldiers and
refugees, whose needs had all been previously carefully
investigated by the authorities. As a result of this dis-
tribution and the enormous number of appeals that soon
began to pour into Red Cross headquarters, a method was
adopted whereby the American Red Cross could reach the
people directly and continue its relief in a systematic
manner. Taking into consideration local conditions and
the special character of the people in this district, an in-
dividual Relief Department was established with a staff
of twenty-five investigators who followed up every appeal,
visiting the families and investigating the conditions and
making recommendations according to the need. T_

tICAN RED CROSS IN ITAEt

■were, in roimd numbera, nineteen thousand families in-
Teatigated through this bureau, fourteen thousand five hun-
dred of these receiving some form of assistance, mainly
in the form of clothing and bedding, but also including
other kinds of aid. The good effects of this widespread
relief were shown in many ways, hut most of all in the
changed attitude of the poorer class towards the war.

Two small institutions established by the American Red
Cross in the Florence district deserve special mention be-
cause they BO perfectly illustrate that fine spirit of co-
operation between the Red Cross and the communities
benefited, which has ao universally characterized the work
in Italy and has done much to eatabliah permanent ties of
friendship between Italy and America, while at the same
time rendering emergency assistance to the victims of
the war and strengthening the power of resistance of the
poorer classes. They were both planned as permanent
monuments, and in this respect were something of a de-
parture from the regular practice of the Red Cross which
was to do emergency work only. The first one was in
Leghorn and was a sort of supplementary school for one
hundred children of soldiers between the ages of six and
twelve. What had been a public square with many beauti-
ful old pine trees was turned over to the Red Cross and
■ here a small building was erected to which the artist's

H touch had given the character of an ancient monument

H set in among the pines, a single-storied building of seven-

^B teenth century Florentine architecture, the large park in

^M which it was erected being surrounded by a wall in keep-

^M ing with the building. Four allegorical canvasses in the

^M little reception room, the personal gift of an Italian friend,

H gave a unique touch to the reception room. One, called

H " Courage," represents the little fleet of Columbus on its

^ft way to the New World ; another, called " Loyalty," gives

H a representation of the cherry-tree episode; the third,

^M called " Fraternity," represents American Red Cross

^ft nurses and officers offering presents to Italian children j

f
I

A TOUR THEOUGH ITALY

and the fourth, called " Liberty," represents American,
Italian and other allied children dancing together in the
midst of a peaceful rural landscape. After the Armistice
this educatorio was turned over to the city of Leghorn with
provision for its maintenance for six months, after which
time it will he continued indefinitely by the city authori-
ties hut always bearing the name of the " Croce Rossa
A-inerieana."

The other waa a children's home, situated in Lucca.
Now in Lucca antique traditions of art are deep rooted
in the hearts of the people, so a little building was de-
signed that would sink into its place unobtrusively. The
authorities of Lucca were so pleased with the design that
they at once gave the American Red Cross one of the
moat beautiful spots in this ancient town, on the famous
Boulevard that rims around the walls that surround the
underlying city. Forty-two days after the ground was
broken this building was brought to completion. The gen-
eral satisfaction over the result was voiced by the Presi-
dent of the Association of Lucchese Artists when he said :
" I like the simple and serious little construction with
its painted walls and ancient tiled roofs, and with the
decoration you so sparingly added to it. It is quite in
harmony with these historical surroundings. It looks as
if it had always existed there," There are three little
buildings in this group united by porticoes, the central
building containing a little day dormitory and a bath-
room with showers, etc., also a small dispensary, the
building on the left arranged for an asilo for children
from three to six, and that on the right as a day nursery
for children from one to three. The city of Lucca will
make this home into an " Enie Morale Auionoma," that
is, a permanent institution, under the superintendence
of the local authorities assisted by the congregation of
charity. Bearing the legend of the American Red Cross,
it will remain as a beautiful and fitting testimonial to the
spirit of the work it carried on in Italy during the war

CHAPTER Vni

(Tour through Italy in the wake of the Red Cross, continued) J
— Bome — Naples — AvelUno — Bari — Eeggio Calabrii
Sicily (Taormina and Palermo) — Sardinia

BOMB

Rome as the General Headquarters of the American
Red Crosg in Italy was the scene of several unique
and impressive functions that have already been described.
Most friendly and cordial relations were established and
maintained throughout with the Italian Government,
which in every possible way cooperated with the American
Red Cross and manifested its deep appreciation of the
work it was accomplishing. It was in Rome especially
that the Red Cross came into touch with the various
Italian organizations for war relief of national scope
through which it was privileged to offer various and mani-
fold assistance. Besides the Italian Red Cross, these in-
cluded: the Board for School Relief {Patronato
Scolasiico), which acts under the Department of Educa-
tion and has representatives in every community, and the
Committee for Refugee Relief (Patronato dei Profugki)
which had the general guardianship of refugees and had
representatives in every town where they were sheltered.
With these organizations the Red Cross has cooperated
utilizing their extensive machinery in getting its supplies
into the hands of the most needy. Mention should be
made too, in this connection, of the Women's Alliance
(AUeanza Femminile) which also extends all over Italy.

It !" '^-''1 to pause a moment on reaching Rome to pay

'le splendid way in which the Italians them-

130

BOME — NAPLES

131

selves were grappling with the difficult problem of civilian
war relief under conditions of unprecedented hardship,
lest in taking this tour through Italy we seem to be unduly
boasting of the part played by the American Red Cross.
Now it is an Italian trait, no doubt deserving of all com-
mendation, though apt to be slightly misleading, to ex-
aggerate benefits received while saying little or nothing of
what Italy itself is accompHahing. It is perhaps an ex-
cess of courtesy on the one hand and of modesty on the
other. In fact our Eed Cross delegates who saw behind
the scenes the work of the Italians were often embarrassed
by the warmth of appreciation with which their own ef-
forts were received.

Besides the national committees referred to there were,
scattered throtighout Italy, innumerable local organiza-
tions quietly accomplishing a vast amount of good work in
the face of all but insuperable obstacles. The largest and
the most important of these local organizations was the
Roman Committee for Civilian War Relief {Comitato
Romano per L'Organizzazione Civile durante la Ouerra).
This was the official body appointed for relief work in the
city of Rome and its immediate environs and had been
formed before Italy's entrance into the war by certain
prominent Italians whose foresight recognized the value of
preparedness in work of this kind. The President of this
Committee, Colonel Apolloni, also served as general Liai-
son Officer for the American Red Cross, which organiza-
tion he served with the utmost loyalty and devotion. The
efficient work of this Roman Committee from the out-
break of the war covered all manner of activities such as
were undertaken by the American Red Cross, including
what might be called a Home Service Department with its
own legal bureau ; and it also provided courses for the in-
struction of mutilated soldiers and ran a euocMsfuI em-
ployment bureau. This work was accompliflhed on a very
large scale and was so excellently done that the American
Red Cross contributed one million two hundred thoug

?m- J
ery 1

3an J

THE AMERICAN BED CROSS

DT ITALY ^^^H
enable it to extend(^^H

lire, besides large gifta of supplies, to e
itB work still further.

The work which the American Red Cross independently
undertook in the Eoman District, which waa made to in-
clude the provinces of Lazio, Umbria, and Abruzzi, was
separately organized and placed under a local delegate
with headquarters in the city of Rome. Some of the
more unique features of this work have already been de-
scribed. An idea of its extent may be gathered from the
fact that in all 71 activities were maintained.' These
included 43 asili and day nurseries, 7 public kitchens, 11
workshops and shoe shops. Besides the summer colony at
Monte Luco, described above, a seaside camp was installed
at Nettuno and continued for the three summer months.
Here soldiers' children were sent in three groups, one hun-
dred and fifty each month, living in tents on the beaches.
Children predisposed to tuberculosis were selected and the
results were most satisfactory. Antemic, thin, and under-
fed children became robust and joyous, healthy, and ex-
pansive. Two institutions for war orphans came under
the care of the Red Cross for the duration of the war, and
the buildings in which they were housed were recon-
structed and equipped.

At Anzio on the sea near Rome a large building was
reconstructed and converted into a hospital, and to this
was transferred the equipment of the Red Cross hospital
at Genoa after that institution had been closed. There
had been no public hospital at Anzio-Nettuno, with a
population of some twelve thousand, poor and in great
need. A special tax has been placed for its maintenance
in perpetuity and this hospital will remain as one of the
moat appreciated memorials of the work of the American
Red Cross in Italy,

There were besides in this district 80 Italian inetitutiona for
iliiin relief which received some form of Red Crosij aasistance und
municipsl org&nizatiant in small towas where there were no apecial
Ked CroiB axtiTitie*, wbich were given food and clothing £or dia-
butiou.

EOME— NAPLES

A So]dierB' Ciub (Casa del Soldato) waa established in
the old Borghese Paiace at Nettuno whieli was remodeled
for this use. It consists of an enormous hall with a great
open fire place, two readiug and writing rooms, a kitchen
and buffet, and all the appurtenances of a club. It is pro-
vided with musica] instruments and games, and serves as
a place of comfort and recreation for eight hundred or
more Italian soldiers daily who would otherwise in this
desolate village have no place to go. There is a great
military training base just outside Nettuno, and inasmuch
as the Princess Borghese is to continue this club, it wiU
not cease its usefulness after the departure of the Ameri-
can Red Cross.

It is an indication of the success of the work in the
Roman district that a strong local committee has been
formed which has undertaken to continue all the Red Cross
activities except those which are distinctly temporary in
character.

NAPLES

The appearance of Kaples in war time waa not very
different from that in time of peace; there was the same
surface beauty, the same inward misery. Perhaps this
was because in normal times poverty and wretchedness are
so great that the increase of suffering due to war conditiouB
was less in evidence. One night indeed the people were
sharply reminded of the war, when the Huns sailed over
the city, and, as if in pure malice, dropped a score of
bombs, hitting a hospital with their usual accurate marks-
manship, and taking their toll in innocent lives.

With the exception of the large and successful station
canteen for soldiers, and the effective emergency relief
work during the influenza epidemic, the independent activ-
ities of the American Red Cross in this district, thirteen in
number, were mostly concerned with the care of refugees.
This comprised not only emergency assistance during the
early days, but also the continued care of some three hp

134 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

dred refugees housed in the Hotel Victorim. These i»
mained throughout a special charge of the Red CSnwBy
which provided a workroom for the women and a day
nursery and school for their children. The children were
given the hest of care, and good schooling, and, when
summer came, bi-weekly outings on the beach at BagnolL
About seventy went .at a time. They were g^ven free
trams to take them on the forty minute ride from Naples.
The children would don their bathing suits under their
outer garments before leaving the Hotel Victoria so that
no time would be lost when the shore was reached, and
the minute the train stopped they would rush off with a
shout, and before you could walk from the tram to the
beach, seventy red and white bathing suits would he gaily
splashing about in the health-giving salt water. After-
wards under the shelter of a tent flying the American and
Italian flags they would rest and sleep until it was time
for the homeward journey. In this way the little children
from the north were safely carried through the Neapolitan
summer. After the bathing season was over physical cul-
ture classes were started in the American Red Cross school,
which continued the good work of the summer. No
refugees received better care in their enforced banish-
ment from home than this little group which was fortunate
enough to come under the protection of the American
Red Cross.

Assistance was also extended from the liTaples center
to Ischia, Sorrento and to the Island of Capri. This little
island with its population of seven thousand had given
one thousand soldiers to the Italian Army. Dependent
upon tourists for its subsistence, conditions here were
very hard, and, cooperating with an American woman long
resident in Capri, the American Red Cross gave generous
assistance in supplying the soldiers' wives with work and
caring for their children in two asili, one at Marina
Grande and the other at Capri proper. The latter was
in the beautiful old monastery of Santa Teresa, formerly

ROME — NAPLES

a convent of Franciscan nuns, a noble old aeventeentli^

century building, with a large courtyard in the middle
and broad high doorways and a grand atairway leading to
the second story where in three cheerful rooms the children
forgot their sorrows in song and play, and received ele-
mentary instruction, which included lessons in deport-
ment and cleanliness, from the quaint little mouse-like
Sisters with their ]arge starched rulfs and full skirts. In
connection with these asili, run by the same kindly nuna,
were two small Red Cross soup kitchens.

Eut the main part of the work of the American
Ked Cross for civilian relief in the district of Naples
was accomplished by giving assistance to some sixty
local institutions. We must not leave Naples, however,
without calling attention to the emergency dispensary
eatabiished in March in the GalUria Viltorio and later
continued in the same building with the other American
Eed Cross activities. This dispensary was run by the
Ked Cross, which also provided a district nurse, but the
medical and surgical work was done by the officers of the
United States Public Health Service, especially Dr. Carl
Ramus, who, when the need was greatest, was on hand
daily rendering untiring aid. After America entered the
war and emigration ceased, their regular duties had been
much restricted, and they volunteered for Eed Cross serv-
ice, and before the first of November had cared for two
thousand patients and made more than three thousand
visits. " It is due largely to the activities of the Amerl- J
can Eed Cross," writes Dr. Ramus, " that America :
better understood and appreciated at Naples than ever I
iore." And he adds, " We feel honored to have
operated in that excellent work."

AVELLINO

A separate American Red Cross center was established
at Avellino, some forty miles east of Naples as the crow
flies, but with war time conditiona of communicatior

sand d

oeri^^^^H

:a is^^^l

rbeJ^H

cty^^^l

shed '

;row

I
I

THE AMSHICAN RED CBOSS IN ITALY

Sabbath day's journey away. This district included all
the rural towns and villages dotted over the beautiful footr
hi 11 a of the Apennines in the provinces of Salerno,
Avellino, Benevento and Campobasso.

The conditions in the Avellino district were particularly
bad. There was universal poverty, much intensified by
the presence of large numbers of refugees. The Govern-
ment had found it necessary to requisition the grain pro-
duced in this district and it was hard for the people, in
their general ignorance, with a vivid realization of their
own difficulties in securing food, to appreciate the justice
or the necessity of this emergency measure. There were
a great many Germans interned here, many of them well
provided with money which they spent freely, and these
proved a demoralizing influence. They were forever fo-
menting discontent, making capital out of the ignorance
of the people, and of course their propaganda included
the usual arraignment of America and her motives. The
American Red Cross managed to reach practically all of
the widely scattered towns in this extended district with
some form of war relief, and had the satisfaction of see-
ing the attitude of the people change from one of in-
difference or dull hostility to one of unbounded
enthusiasm.

The work of the Ked Cross here presents a marked con-
trast to that in Naples and indicates the differences that re-
sult from the individuality of the delegates with the
regional method of organization. Worthy Italian institu-
tions were indeed given backing, but the chief efforts were
centered in independent Hed Cross enterprises, upwards of
fifty in number. The activities themselves presented few
new features, but they were wisely differentiated so that
they formed a sort of interlocking system, one activity sup-
porting another. Another characteristic of the work here
was the promptness with which ideas, once clearly grasped,
were put into execution. For example, one day the dele-
gates were taking luncheon with the Prefect and on the

ISOMB— NAPLES

table was a bottle of Telese water. Tbis led to a i
cussion of tbe wonderful benefits of tbe sulphur batbs s
Teleae and it occurred to our delegates that this wouid be
an excellent thing for the aiiEemic and aickly children of
soldiers. That same afternoon Telese was visited, an
available farm house secured rent free ; and two weeks
later it was opened completely furnished, everything ex-
cept a few kitchen utensils having been provided by the

' Eed Crosa shops in the Avellino district,^ the beds from
the carpenter shop, mattresses from the mattress shop,
linens, etc., from the workrooms. Twenty-four childrrai
were taken at a time and remained for two weeks. Every
I bug took them from the farm to the baths, and the
owner of the Grand Hotel gave the children the use of
the Hotel Park as a playground. The mothera were at
first reluctant to let their children go from home, but after
tbe first group returned, tbe evidence of benefit in im-
proved health was convincing and there was great competi-
tion thereafter for tbe places available. Once when the

I camion arrived at the farm it was found to contain twenty-
five children instead of the usual number of twenty-four.
So the children were cheeked up by name and the stow-

[ away proved to be a little boy of two, ail smiling and
happy. Of course be was kept. About a week later a
woman walked into the Red Crosa office at Avellino and
timidly inquired how her boy was getting on at Telese.
It appeared that so great had been her anxiety to have her
child secure the benefit of tbe treatment that, taking ad-
vantage of the crowd of happy mothers surrounding the
camion to bid farewell to their youngsters, she had
smuggled her baby in unbeknownst.

On another occasion a refugee priest located
Quadrelle came to Ked Cross headquarters with the i
quest that a workroom be eatablisbed there. He made i

I favorable impression and was immediately given some ma-1
teriai to take back with him in order that he might showJ
what bis proteges could do. In a couple of daya he

i
1

138 THE AMERICAN RED CR03S IN ITALY

back with the material all made up. A successful little
workroom was soon going at Quadrelle. The large num-
ber of workrooms established in this district had been
made possible at small expense by conducting sales of the
garments to the families of soldiers, whose needs had pre-
viously been investigated, at what was a nominal price, but
nearly sufficient to pay all costs save that of the material,
which the Red Cross gave. The cost was also kept down
and waste eliminated by having all of the material used
throughout this district cut at the Avellino laboratory by
a large electric cutting machine. Crates and boxes were
turned to good use in the carpenter shop and the raw ma-
terial for the tin shop consisted of empty condensed milk
cans and gasoline cans. Skilled worlanen from amongst
the refugees were put in charge of most of the activities.
An experienced upholsterer from TJdine ran the mattress
factory, which turned out four hundred mattresses a month
stuffed with dried seaweed. A refugee baker, utilizing an
old fifteenth century stone stove in the refugee home at
Monteforte, made the bread for the Red Cross children at
that place and also at Avellino. Having been a gardener
in his former home he undertook to teach the children
gardening, each child having its own individual garden.
In this way vegetables were grown for the soup kitchena as
well as for the families of the boys.

A children's dispensary established at Avellino was a
model in equipment and management. Here there were
at least one hundred consultations daily and a number of
operations. Incidentally all the children of refugees and
soldiers were vaccinated. An American nurse in charge
with her seven Italian assistant nurses averaged eight
hundred home calls every month, accomplishing an im-
mense amount of good and bringing the Red Cross most
intimately into touch vrith the lives of the people.

A unique feature of the work in this district was a
chain of model houses. Here the children were taught the
principles of housekeeping, cooking, washing and ironing.

SOME — NAPLES

making beda, how to serve a meal properly, how to
and to make their own clothes and to mend them. Each
day a difFerent group of children was taken into the
kitchen and taught to cook. There were in each house
model rooms to show how things should be done, the simple
furniture being made in the Red Cross carpenter shop.
There was also a bath where, under the supervision of a
nurse, they were taught to bathe, — for many of these chil-
dren a novel experience-
When the Ked Cross representatives first went to Ave]
lino the streets were infested by ragamuffins, regular littlft'
bandits who, with no restraining parental hand, fathers at
the front and mothers busy, were bent on mischief. In
the general opinion of the town these were just hopeleaa
outcasts. The wife of tbe Red Cross delegate was of a
different opinion. Near the Ked Cross office was a large
unused plot of ground, uneven and stony and covered
with refuse. Why not turn this unsightly spot into a
playground for the Avellino street hoys ? The young
" bandits " seized the idea and fell upon the field, working
like a busy army of ants, stopping only long enough at noon
for the bowl of soup given them at the Red Cross soup
kitchen. The playground was soon in order, a modest one
but the boys' own. Here early every morning they were
drilled by a young soldier, home on convalescent leave.
They were then organized into squads and put to work in
the various Red Cross shops where they learned carpentry,
tin-smithing and the art of making mattresses ; and there
was also a toyshop, where they made toys used in the
children's playrooms all over Italy, They were paid ten
cents for half a day's work, and were only allowed to be-
long to the organization if they attended school the other
half of the day. They learned to work remarkably well
and developed a splendid spirit and could always be
counted upon by the delegates for any kind of work from
unloading cars to running errands. They were v't
proud of their brown uniforms made in tbe Red

■ I

140 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

workrooms and acquired quite a military bearing and
saluted with great punctiliousness. They marched, these
little brownies, in the Armistice parade, carrying the
American and Italian flags, and the general reviewing
the parade was so much impressed with their soldierly
bearing that he wrote a letter complimenting the Red Cross
on this work.

The journey from Naples south through Basilicata,
Puglie, and Calabria, on through the heel and toe of the
"boot," and over to eastern Sicily, takes one through
scenes of ever increasing poverty and wretchedness. It is
impossible to convey in words an adequate impression of
the misery and desolation which more than three years of
war had produced in this poorest section of Italy, where
even in times of peace the struggle for existence had been
fierce and unequal. With all the able-bodied men between
the ages of eighteen and forty-five called to the colors, the
condition of the wives and children and the aged parents,
deprived of their means of support, was wretched in the
extreme. In view of the high cost of necessities, the
meagre government allowance was hardly sufficient to
stave off starvation. The people crowded more than ever
into hovels, slept on bundles of corn husks, or were packed
three and four in a bed; the children, and often the
mothers, had only a few rags to cover their nakedness,
and the^e was no money to buy the needed medicines f o^
the sick.

BABI

The American Eed Cross did a great work in this sec-
tion of Italy. The first part of this story, however, we
should gladly pass over in silence. A center was early
established for the province of Puglie in the city of Bari,
an important seaport on the Adriatic, with sixty thousand
inhabitants, but little known to American tourists. It
must frankly be confessed that the Ked Cross work here
was " months a failure. Of course something was

ROME — NAPLES

- some milk was distributed, and a workroom i
run for a time, — but it was all so little, and was done i
such a spirit as not to make the slighteat impression on the
life of the community. But a change of administration at
Bari which took effect on the first of October remedied all
this. With a small office force, but with whole-hearted
backing from Rome, and with the devoted assistance of a
local committee of twenty-five women of Bari, the new
administration soon had in full swing all the typical Red
Cross activities, and was reaching the most needy in every
part of the city of Bari and in the outlying districts.
Many popular demonstrations testified to the success of ,

this work and the gratitude of the people. If there had
been a bad beginning, it is a satisfaction to know that there

>was a brilliant, if late, recovery. ^^J

BEOGIO CALABRIA ^^^H

It is a relief to pass on to Basilicata and Calabria wherai^^^^
the work of the American Red Cross, with a center at '

Reggio Calabria, was wisely directed from the first, and |

made to meet the special conditions which there prevailed.
The staple products of this part of Italy are chiefly
oranges and lemons and olive oil, though a small amount
of grain is produced on the Calabrian plateau. The staple
diet of everyone consisted, prior to the war, almost ex-
clusively of bread. This had become difScult to secure,
and was only to bo had in small quantities. The Red
Cross assistance naturally took the form of the establish-
ment of a number of soup kitchens, some thirteen in all,
and of an exceptionally large and widespread distribution
of milk and white fiour. Milk had actually become so
scarce that it sold as high as ten lire ($2.00) a litre, and
white flour was not to be had. Several asUi were estab-
lished, the most interesting being at Scilla, built by old
men, the only masons left in the town, with the assistance
of young girls. Now Scilla is the Scylla of Homer ' ' '
faced the whirlpool of Charybdis. The sirens

142 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

cording to the legend lured the mariners to destructiaii on
this rocky promontory are gone and Charybdis has dis-
appeared^ but their places were taken by the more deadly
submarine and the floating mine. A modem Ulysses pass-
ing this way on his wanderings would see a flag with stars
and stripes floating high above this menacing rock, and
mighty instead of the sirens' song, catch the sound of chil-
dren singing and shouting at their play, and " Viva
America ! Viva la Croce Kossa Americana ! " would
surely be part of the burden of their cry.

But while railroads skirt the Ionian and Tyrrhenian
coasts of Calabria, the interior is all but inaccessible,
reached only by poor roads that in wet weather are often
impassable, for bridges are scarce and rivers must gen-
erally be forded. It was impossible personally to super-
vise activities in the interior, so most of the independent
work of the American Red Cross was done in the coast
'I owns. But all the asili throughout this region (one hun-
dred and ten caring for over ten thousand children) were
supplied with white bread, and colossal amounts of con-
densed milk were distributed ; clothes were also given, and
in many cases the Eed Cross supplied funds to put strug-
gling asili on their feet. Now poverty and ignorance sup-
ply fertile soil for envy and jealousy, but a poor soil for
cooperation and public spirit, and there were few phil-
anthropic organizations in this district with which the
American Eed Cross could cooperate. So the following
method was generally adopted: supplies were sent to the
asili direct and at the same time notice of the exact amount
was sent to the Mayor of the town, to the Prefect of the
Province, and also to the Eoyal Superintendent of Schools,
so that its use was checked up from different angles.

Calabria is no stranger to catastrophe. The people have
not yet recovered from the effects of the earthquake in
1907 when entire towns were destroyed. Euins are in
evidence everywhere, and in numerous villages where not
many houses had been left standing the inhabitants,

HOME — NAPLE 8 148 i

i sheltered in little frame huts, were trying to rebuild their i
I commerce and industry, when the war came npon theml
■with ita blighting influence. Nowhere waa Red Crosa aa-1
sistance more needed or better deserved, for the Calabrianl
soldiers at the front were fighting as bravely as any in.l
our common cause. Calabria, like its neighbor Sicily, in I
its long and varied history, has been tossed about from one I
master to another from the days of the early Greeks to the *
days of Austrian domination. Many foreign powers have
planted their flags on Calabria's soil and every time this
has been the signal for bloodshed and devastation, and the
peasant has been the chief victim. At last a foreign flag
has been set up in Calabria which the native has come to
look upon with love and trust, for he knows that it stands,

»not for renewed exploitation, but for material and moral ^^J
aid, that it is the symbol of plenty and of peace. ^^^|

BICILY ^^H

All the soldiers on their wav to and from Sicilv stonued *

All the soldiers on their way to and from Sicily stopped
at Villa San Giovanni, on the Straits of Messina. A large
kitchen was maintained here by the Red Cross where sol-
diers and refugees in transit received the nourishing min-
estra, which was served on tlie arrival of all trains. As
many as twenty-six hundred have been fed here in a day
before continuing on their journey to the south, or over to
Messina, with which city there was ferry comrannieation,
— a short run but made dangerous by the ever present sub-
marine. Let us cross with them to Meaaina, In spite of
its unkempt appearance this city contains men of wealth
and public spirit who have organized for war relief and
handled the situation so well that it has not been necessary
for the Red Cross to attempt much here. ^

It did, however, establish a seaside camp at Taro, eiglq
miles from the town, for Messina's soldiers' delicate chi*
dren, especially those predisposed to tuberculosis, thereb^
enabling' a public-spirited local doctor, who was made c"
rector of the institution, to realize a long cherished

144 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITAI^Y

And here while the bodies enjoyed the cure of sun and
the minds were not neglected, for in the early hours of
the morning the children, seated on benches on the sand,
had their daily lesson, which the maestro wrote on a four-
legged blackboard that stood beside his elevated desk.

TAOBMINA

The work of the American Red Cross in Eastern Sicily
was directed from Taormina; the headquarters for the
work in the western half of the island were at Palermdu
Most of the independent activities were carried on in or
near these centers. Taormina was chosen because it
seemed to be the city of greatest need, the larger towns
along the shore being better able to care for themselves.
The many tourists who have visited this spot in times gone
by probably remember it only as a place of surpassing
beauty, where care and sorrow were forgotten. Just above
the town, between two rugged peaks, are the ruins of the
old Greek theatre. Sitting on the upper tier one can still
enjoy the splendid view which the Greeks had before the
Romans put up the ugly brick wall back of the stage and
turned the orchestra into an arena for gladiatorial com-
bats. On the right, high up, is the old castle, said to
have been the ancient acropolis of Taormina, and a little
farther on one can see the town of Mola perched on another
mountain. On a shelf of rock below rests the town of
Taormina. On the left, seven hundred feet lower, lies
the sea, and straight ahead towers Etna, magnificent in its
mantle of snow, sending up clouds of steam from the top,
its broad shoulder gradually descending to the left until
it touches the sea. In the far distance may be seen the
city of Syracuse. Never did a theatre have a more superb
setting.

But the Americans in Taormina in war time had no
leisure to dwell on its beauty ; the human problems in the
town itself were all absorbing. For them Taormina
stands for sadness and sorrow. The soil of the surround-

ing hills is scant and barren and, except for a few acres
of vines and of almond, olive and orange trees, produces
nothing. Many of the inhabitants still follow the life of
fishermen, but their livelihood has been cut off during the
war on account of the submarines, which make everything
but near-shore fishing impossible. Long ago the people
eked out a living by silk and lace manufacture. But
about twenty years ago the tourists discovered that this
was one of the most beautiful spots on earth, and they
have been coming ever since in increasing numbers, as
many as nine hundred at a time in the height of the season
before the war. Industries had died out, and the people,
of whom there are about four thousand, lived on tourists.
They had been in a bad way ever since the war put an end
to the stream of tourists, and when, after Caporetto, twelve
hundred refugees were sent here, crowding the hotels that
had been requisitioned by the Government, their condition
was desperate.

Legend has it that Sicily was once the habitat of giants,
Cyclops and lotus eaters. The Sicilians, of small stature,
could only suggest giants by contrast, and it is hard to
envisage a fierce cyclops in this land of universal friend-
liness, although when Etna thunders, imagination can pic-
ture Polyphemus buried in the crater for his sins and ex-
ploding in bis wrath over the loss of Galatea, But this is
still the land of lotus eaters, and of no part is this truer
than of Taormina. The few well-to-do citizens and
foreigners settled here were mostly indifferent to the
wretched condition of the people ; their consciences asleep,
they lived for sensuousness and distraction, so that before
the war this town had a reputation for luxury and indul-
gence that rivalled that of ancient Sybaris. One or two
English and American residents came to the assistance of

I the Bed Cross, but for the most part it played a lone hand ^^J
in Taormina. ^^^^M

Most of the work of the American Bed Cross c ^^^^|

in or grew out of the Home for Convalescent C ^^^^^

116 TUE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

which was one of the earliest activities established and
was A moih'l little institution. Over three hundred chil-
dren v/vTv nourished and cared for in this home, remain-
ing from throo to eight weeks, according to need. Not a
fnw of thoni were passed on from here to the beautiful Bad
C)r(»HH iM*nHiclo home at Mazzaro, just below Taormina, and
all <li(» n»Ht, after their discharge, were provided for a time
with broth and milk from the dispensary, which was, in
a way, an adjunct to the convalescent home and greatly
nxtrndcd its usefulness, dispensing the needed nourishment
to the sickly who could not be provided for in the Bed
Cross home. District nurses investigated all cases, and
aid was given on their recommendation. These district
nurses, with a corps of refugee assistants^ carried the
ministrations of the Bed Cross into many a home in
Taormina.

Nearly every one of the children in the convalescent
home was the central figure in a little tragic tale, and the
kindly directress, who loved and mothered them all, knew
to the last detail the history of each. Here for example, to
take an illustration, are two little sisters, inseparable night
and day. They are orphans. Their mother died of
Spanish fever in the early fall, and the Bed Cross took
tlicm in. The father at that time was serving his country
as a sailor. He came back to visit his children and was
much pleased to find that they were so well taken care of.
But not long after he had left his ship struck a mine and
he was killed. One day the Bed Cross gave a " movie "
show and all the children went. One of tibe films pictured
Bed Cross work in Taormina and had been taken some
time before. Suddenly on the screen these children saw
their mother, moving about and looking very real, and they
clapped their hands in glee exclaiming, " See, our Mamma
is not dead ! " Joy once more came into their lives. The
Bed Cross, though not able to produce the mother, did,
through the efforts of the foster-mother, the directress, se-

cure a home for these waifa when its work in Taormina-
was brought to a close.

A large workroom was established in Taormina, in the
batlrooin of the Hotel San Domenico, — once a convent
dating from the fourteeDth and seventeenth centuries,
made over into a hotel and owned by an Austrian — which
through a system of relays managed to give employment to
more than six hundred refugees and soldiers' wives. A
smaller workroom employing thirty refugees and sup-
ported by the Red Cross and making garments for soldiers,
was under the direction of " Mother Mary," a gentle and
lovable British nun who, as Superior of the Franciscan
Missionaries of Mary, has for many years devoted herself
to work among the poor of this town.

There was scarcely a home in Taormina that did not re-
ceive some form of Red Cross assistance. The Italian
Army doctor who took care of the Red Cross children,
after the refugee doctor who bad at first bad charge of them
had returned to his home in Udine, was moat enthusiastic
over the work accomplished in Taormina. He said he
could not find words to express his appreciation: It had
been "miraculous," — it had saved the Uvea of the chil*.
dren and kept the people from starving. He was sura]
that without its assistance almost fifty per cent of the
population in the town would have died. This doctor who
was on sick leave with a mortal illness, although never free
from pain, had for two years been devoting himself to the
sick of Taormina, But he could not shake off a feeling of
despondency, not for himself, but for the community,
whose load he seemed to have taken upon his own
shoulders, " There is so much," he said, " so much that
should be done. And we can do so little. The schools
should teach hygiene and sanitation. But how can people
keep clean when all the water in the house is carried on
the head from the fountain in the square, where the onlj,
place they have to live in is frequently like this, — poir

148 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

ing to a half-cellar, " a door, no window, closed tight at
night and packed full? I have just been visiting a boy
with tuberculosis who lives in a place like this. There are
five of them, grandmother, mother, and three children, and
all sleep in one bed, and the room is shared by the family
goat."

The people in nearby towns were aided directly from
the center at Taormina, but assistance was also extended
far and near especially in the form of milk, which was
sent to nearly every town in Eastern Sicily. Distribu-
tions of clothing too were made in many places, often in-
accessible and only to be reached on foot or on mule-back.
Let us go with the Eed Cross on one of these journeys:
A long carriage ride, followed by a two hour climb up a
rough and rugged path brings one to an upland valley
where the town is situated. The view of the sea as one
passes over the crest of the hill is one of remarkable
beauty. But the town itself is sordid and forsaken. It
has been raining lately, and the streets are muddy and
swarming with pigs. While the distribution is being
made in the town hall to the most needy families, accord-
ing to a list prepared by the Mayor, one young fellow
walks up and says in English to one of the Eed Cross

women in charge " Is this Miss ? " He turns out

to be an old protege of hers from the east side of New YorL
He is suffering from tuberculosis and has returned to
Italy with his mother, to be near the father, who has just
returned to his old home after forty months of service in
the Italian Army^ The American Eed Cross workers are
invited to dine with this Italian-American family, which
they cannot do but they agree to call after the distribution
is over. Accordingly they repair to the house, which is on
a dirty, damp alley. But the room to which they are
taken on the second floor is immaculately clean. It is
scantily furnished with a few chairs and a table, but in the
or -stands a large American victrola. Here they have
^d and native cheese and wine and nuts, gener-

-NAPLES

oasly provided from the meagre store, while Caruso fl
" Ai'da," followed by a medley of American ragtime, j
the family sits proudly around, talking wistfully, between!
tunea, of happy days on the east side of New York.

PALEKMO

In one respect at least the story of the work at Palermo 1
is like the story of the American Ked Cross in nearly every ^
part of Italy, Beginning with emergency assistance in
the care of refugees, it rapidly grew and extended until
it taxed almost to the breaking point the strength of the
small and inadequate force, which was all that Home was
able to supply, each worker being compelled to do the
work of two, busy all day with the inspection and super-
vision of activities, and working far into the night writing
reports, balancing books, and taking care of the corres-
pondence. But it had its unique features determined by
local conditions. Palermo is a large seaport town and was
a prosperous one, as its large business blocks, its beauti-
ful villas, its ambitious theatre (one of the best in Italy)
and its modem park attest. But the harbor was prac-
tically closed during the long years of the war by enemy
submarines, and its shipping industries, the chief source
of Palermo's prosperity, had been hard hit. Every ship-
ping port has its army of the poor and its slums. It would
be hard to find any worse than those in Palermo. But
there was a great deal of public spirit on the part of the
well-to-do, and private organizations ever since the out-
break of the war had been doing a vast deal of work for
the needy of the soldiers' families, and especially for the
children through the establishment and operation of asjli;
but with ever decreasing resources and ever increasing de-
mands, they were unable to meet the situation. Since it
was a fundamental principle governing the Italian Com-
mission of the Red Cross to cooperate freely wi
Italians in carrying out its purposes, obviously t
thing to do was to get behind these local organi

150 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

and assist them in their work. This the Bed Cross did
in every way possible. It also completely took over
two of the largest of the asili which they had established.
It may fairly be said that the initiative for all of the
work undertaken by the Red Cross during the early months
in Palermo was due to these local organizations, and
especially to the group of patriotic women who had vol-
unteered under the banner of the Alleanza Femminile.

The first wholly Red Cross activity undertaken in Pal-
ermo was what came to be known as the " Massimo Food
Distribution,'' from the fact that the distribution took
place in the great Massimo Theatre. One of the chief
difficulties that had been encountered in this district was
that of reaching the sickly undernourished children of sol-
diers whose mothers through ignorance were unwilling to
consent to their care in institutions. For them this dis-
tribution was undertaken; and it assumed somewhat the
aspect of a diet kitchen, since food was allotted according
to the dietary needs of the children, whose cases had been
investigated by nurses and social workers, with the active
and appreciative cooperation of the Alleanza Femminile.
The work steadily grew until twelve hundred children
were being provided for, with most satisfactory results.

A day nursery was opened for delicate babies from
eighteen months to five years of age, but the need of con-
stant treatment was so apparent that this was transformed
into a sort of convalescent home where seventy little
patients were received and cared for day and night, sixty
others coming in for the day. It was situated on the sea
front in an attractiv,e building with a large sunny court,
and the children were under the constant care of an Italian
doctor who was a child specialist.

The Red Cross also took over a pavilion in a hospital
by the sea, not far from Palermo, with thirty-two beds,
which were filled with children selected from the various
groups under the care of the Red Cross.

^eral it was only the very young children who

ROME — NAPLES

I came under the special care of the American Eed Crosa, "
[ but the conditions at Palermo were auch aa clearly to in-
I dicate the desirability of eatabliahing a achool for older
' boys. The fact is that mothers here have not much control
of the boys, whose discipline is regarded as the function
of the father; consequently -when the war came, many
mothers found themselves helpless to manage the grow-
ing youths, who would come home late at night and were
falling under bad influences. Many appeals came in from
distracted mothers, and from fathers on leave from the
front, and the American Red Cross, yielding to the de-
mand, established a school which kept three hundred of
these hoys, between the ages of seven and fourteen, off
the streets. The Due d'Orleans, claimant to the throne
of France, and a niember of the House of Bourbon that
ruled over the " Two Sicilies " until its overthrow by Gari-
baldi and his famous " Thousand," still owns a beautiful
estate in Palermo and he gave the Ked Cross permission
to establish this school in his large unused stables. Now
royal stables are generally more commodious than a
plain man's villa, and these were admirably adapted to
their new use. Permission was also given for the use of
the adjacent garden as a playground for certain hours of
the day, A mobilized priest of the Salesian Brotherhood
was transferred from the military to have charge of these
Bona of soldiers. His whole heart was wrapped up in their
welfare, and his zeal and efficiency made the work a suc-
cess from the start. On Saturdays and Sundays during J
the bathing season the boys from the Villa d'Orleans were/
taken in camion loads for a seaside outing at MondelloJ
using the American Red Cross building which on other]
days served as an asilo for sixty-five younger cliildren.

Some idea of the extent of the work accomplished ^
the Red Cross in this district may be had from the
that between August, 1D18, and Fcbruaryj 1019, aid
extended to ninety-two towns in Western Sicily, '
sixty-three institutions in the city of Palermo itsel

152 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

eeived assistance in one form or another. At the height
of its activity the number of people benefited by the Bed
Cross from the Palermo center in a single week was
twenty-nine thousand.

BASDTNLL

The picturesque and sparsely inhabited island of Sar-
dinia is little known. For some strange reason the tour-
ists have never discovered it; consequently it is still an
unspoiled land where the traveler is received as a guest
instead of being regarded as legitimate prey. The scenery
is beautiful and varied, sometimes presenting views of ex-
ceptional grandeur, especially in the high lands on the
eastern part of the island. Here one may travel for miles
through a wild and rugged country, over excellent roads,
seeing no sign of life save for an occasional shepherd with
his herd of goats. Flowers of all sorts abound and the air
is often full of fragrance from the herbs and shrubs. The
women are fair, the men tall and fine looking and, except
where the scourges of malaria and tuberculosis have left
their mark, good health is the rule. All are poor, but
their poverty is never allowed to stand in the way of
their hospitality, for they are generous and hospitable al-
most to excess. They are grave and dignified in their
bearing, which is in marked contrast to the mercurial
temperament of the Italians of the mainland. In the
more inaccessible towns they still quite generally wear the
picturesque native costume. Each town has its distinc-
tive pattern and within that town all follow the same
fashion. And the boys dress like the men, the girls like
the women. The costumes of the women are very rich
and brilliant and, in the case of the well-to-do, elaborately
embroidered, and adorned with much gold jewelry, the
costumes and the jewelry alike being generally family
heirlooms.

The Sards are a proud and independent people and,
even in the darkest days after Caporetto, never lost their

ROUE — NAPLES

eonfldence in victory, but showed the aame indomitable
spirit on " the inner front " that their boya were showing ,
on the front line. For there were famous brigades fromJ
Sardinia. One in particular came to be known as the-fl
" soldiers of steel."

It has been a great pleasure to work with these people,
and probably in no part of Italy has the work of the Red
Cross been more completely satisfactory. In the general
spring distribution * Red Cross representatives iu per-
son visited practically every town on the island, and as
each visit was the occasion of a patriotic demonstration
in which the entire town participated, the message of
America reached everywhere. There was the same com-
prehensiveness in the work that followed. Separate asili
were indeed eatabliahed and a few orphanages were sup-
ported, but help was also extended, mainly clothes and
white flour, to all the asili on the island, some sixty in
number, caring for eight thousand children. Through the
soldiers' canteens and rest houses at Terranova and
ITacomer, all the Sard soldiers were reached as they came
or went. Hospitals were aided with supplies, and special
support was given to a hospital for the care of tubercular J
soldiers.

Forty thousand children's outfits were distributed T
throughout Sardinia, as a parting gift from the Red Cross,
to the more needy soldiers' children. The following quota-
tion from the narrative of a Red Cross officer who took
part in this distribution will give some idea of the ex-
periences of a worker in Sardinia : " We arrived in the
evening at the town of Nuoro, larger and more prosperous
than those we had passed during the day and were met,
as usual, by the leading citizens, — particularly fine types. .
On the mountains near this place the Red Cross had con- 1
ducted one of its most successful summer colonies. A I
number of the children from this colony came to see U8,f
among them a funny little youngster who appeared to!

I See pBg« 57.

154 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

be about six years old, known as the ^ Captain.' He had
been the leading spirit of the summer colony and had
drilled the boys with great regularity and was very proud
of the title that he had earned.

" The following morning the distribution of garments
took place, but this had to be temporarily interrupted, for
the town had organized a religious procession in our honor.
It was a most interesting sight The children from the
Red Cross colony with large American flags insisted on
heading the procession, marching before the priests and
the celebrants and the life-sized image of the Virgin, wav-
ing the Stars and Stripes. It made the picture rather in-
congruous, but was a pretty sight.

" From here we hurried on to the town of Oliena, ar^
riving a little after eleven. This town is well off the
beaten track and the people have preserved their native
costumes. The whole town had been expecting us and
everyone was on the streets, and we were given a royal
welcome. All were very much disturbed, however, to dis-
cover that we had to leave at one o'clock, particularly the
parish priest, who had planned a religious procession for
the afternoon in our honor. When they found that we
could not delay, the priest insisted that he would have the
procession anyway, so he proceeded to advance the clock
half an hour and had the bell rung for noonday to send
the people home to their dinners, and then sent out the
town crier (banda) to order the inhabitants to appear at
the church at one o'clock, dressed in their best, for the
procession which was to be given in honor of America and
the American Red Cross. Meantime we repaired to a room
where a luncheon was being prepared, and had much
difficulty in hurrying the proceedings, for nobody seemed
to have any appreciation of the value of time and the priest
did not take seriously our determination to leave sharply
at one. We all fell to and helped in the preparations, to
the surprise and amusement of our hosts. Finally some
bread and cheese was produced, and a little later some

meat, and just as we were about to leave, the aoup ar-
rived. It was a very friendly and good-natured picnic.
"While we were here the town crier appeared ouce more,
flinging his message to the people. He blew a horn and
abea chanted an improvised poem, of which I caught the
comparison of America to a 'stella' which was made to
rfiyme with 'nostra sorella.' After his message had been
Slivered to the people he came into the luncheon room
and walking up to me began to chant another improvised
poem. He was a queer wizened little old man, very
ahabby, with a short sha^y beard, half drunk and half in-
spired. He would chant in a monotone one line and then
liesitate a moment and look into the distance, as if trying to
icatch his rhyme, and follow it up by chanting another, and
ao he continued singing the praises of America and her
part in the war and of the Red Cross and its aid to the'
town of Oliena. I could easily imagine that we were
itack several thousand years listening to an old wandering
minstrel. Our bard kept up his singing until stopped by
ihe Mayor. Evidently he could have run on indefinitely.
Sy this time the procession was ready and we al! aallied
forth to see it. It waa indeed a very beautiful and
impressive sight, the priests and the people as they
inarched, accompanying the life-size image of their patron
Baint, sang a sort of dirgo-like chant and seemed them-
selves to be very much affected by the religious spirit ap-
propriate to the performance, and indifferent to the special

occasion

" At every one of the places visited we had a splendid
reception. The whole Island of Sardinia ia full of en-
thusiasm for America and the Bed Cross. There has
been great success in each community in picking the right
persons to entrust with the carrying out of the Red Cross
plans. The people have a fine sense of honor and are
uniformly courteous and friendly. I did not see a single
beggar during the entire trip. The people are very poor
and live in houses built of stone, with mud plaster, mostly

4
4

>«y^i

156 THE AMERICAN BED GROSS IN ITALY

one stoix occasionally two, and in very rare instances,
three. The families crowd into a room, damp and cold,
and generally without a window, though sometimes pro-
vided with a small one that is always kept closed. In
spite of this impossible housing the people looked surpris-
ingly clean and healthy."

There is scarcely a hamlet in Sardinia where America
is not known and loved because of the efforts of the Ameri-
can Red Cross. It was possible to do this widely extended
work with a very modest force and at small expense, once
the material was provided, because of the especially fine
cooperation of the people who not only supplied, free of
charge, railroad transportation, as was done throughout
Italy, but also most of the warehouses, and the labor neces-
sary for the handling of supplies, and at the same time
organized committees within the several communities for
the management of the various activities.

CHAPTER II

Work with American Trooia in Italy — The Action at ths I
Tagliamento ^ A Chaplain's Letter — Delivery of AUotmrait I
Cheques — The Home Seryice Department

The
of the

preceding chapters have dealt wholly with the work 1
American Red Cross with and for our Italian allies.

The ■work with the Ameri

I troops

I small by

^L mi
^B on

Ticau

comparison. Let it not be supposed that this is be-
cause the Italian Commission did not thoroughly real-
ize that in the hearts of those who contributed the Red
Cross funds the American soldier came first, and that
as he was first in their affections so he was first in his
claim upon Red Cross relief. The simple explanation is
that the maximum number of American troops in Italy,
all told, including twelve hundred ambulance men, was in
round numbers only six thousand. These American
forces from the time of their arrival to the day of their
departure were followed by the American Red Cross, and
everything possible was done for their comfort and relief,
eveiything that could give tangible expression of the devo-
tion of the American people to their soldiers in the field.

MoreovePj although there were only a few Americans
in service in Italy it was known that pressure had been
brought to bear from various sources to induce the send-
ing of large American reinforcements. There was always
the expectation that at any time, without warning, this
might be done, and the number of Americans in Italy be
enormously increased. Accordingly the American ~
Cross was always prepared for this emergency. Arrange-
ments had been made for the taking over and equipping
on a moment's notice of hospitals that could be used

167

Red [

158 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

the American troops; supplies were kept in readiness at
strategic points for immediate delivery, including medical
and surgical material necessary for the equipment of sev-
eral large hospital units as well as advance field stations ;
and plans were made for the rapid concentration of Amer-
ican Red Cross forces in Italy upon that service. But the
looked for American reinforcements were never sent, and,
as the event proved, they were not needed.

The Red Cross did, however, provide several small hos-
pitals for Americans. One of fifty beds was established
on the outskirts of Genoa, primarily for the use of the
naval forces, at the request of Admiral Sims. Three
weeks after the request had been received the hospital was
completely equipped and in running order, installed in a
modem villa, requisitioned by the Italian government for
the purpose, situated in a fine park on the hillside over-
looking the bay. It was at first maintained by the Red
Cross, with a physician of the United States Navy in
medical charge, but in the middle of September it was
transferred outright to the navy.

A small but perfectly equipped hospital was maintained
in Milan to care for all American war workers stationed
in that city. This hospital also served as the training and
distributing center for all Red Cross nurses coming to
Italy.

The Permanent Commission had been but a short time
in Rome when it realized the necessity of having a phy-
sician to care for the health of its personnel. At first an
Italian physician, who had previously practised in New
York, was detailed for this service, but in the spring of
1918 his place was taken by an American physician who
had been practising his profession for some years in Flor-
ence and had volimteered his services to the American Red
Cross for the duration of the war.^ It soon became ap-
parent that it was necessary to make special provision for

1 During his year of service he saw nearly fifteen hundred patients,
and reported over five thousand visits or consultations.

C8
V t

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY

atisf actorily ^^H
oroDer food ^^^

serious eases which could not he satisfaotorilT'
treated in the hotela and boarding bouses where proper food
and nursing could not be obtained. At first au arrange-
ment was made with the " Little Sisters of Mary " for the
care of a limited number of cases in their " Nursing
Home." With the ever increasing size of the Red Cross
organization this proved inadequate and accordingly a
small lied Cross hospital was established in Rome, in
quarters that had formerly been used as a private sani-
tarium, beautifully situated, overlooking the Eorghese
Gardens. This hospital was placed at the disposal of all
American workers in Italy stationed at Rome, including
the personnel of the American Red Cross, the members of
the United States Army, United States Navy, the Y. W.
C. A,, the y. M, C. A,, the Knights of Columbus, and the
American Embassy.^

The American Hospital at Padua is an illustration of'
the preparedness of the American Red Cross to meet any
emergency demands. When the Spanish fever was at itB
height in the fall of 1918, and many of our soldiers were
stricken, the existing army hospital facilities proved in-
adequate, and the Red Cross was called upou. On a Sat-
urday the request came. On the following Monday the
hospital was open, with one ward in full swing. It was
established in one of the modem buildings of Padua's fam-
ous university, and was primarily for the use of the men
of the American Aviation Corps, stationed nearby. This
hospital was rapidly enlarged until it was able to care for
one hundred patients, and was, to quote the Chief of
Staff of the American Military Mission, " a God-sent gift
to the scattered troops in this part of Italy, and so admir-
ably conducted as to win praise both from the sick who
patronized it and from the well who visited it."

1 During its einht montha of operation two hundred patients were
received, distributed as follows: American Red CroBS, SO; Y. M.
C. A., 17 ; American Army, 53 ; American Navy, 30 ; American
Embaaay, 9; U. S. Bureau of Information, 4; Knighti of Columbus,
Z; Ei^liih Medical Service, 3; Scattering, 2.

160 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALT

The American Red Cross also undertCK^ for the use of
the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, the con-
struction uf an autochir, or surgical army ambulance^
similar to tho:?e iu use in the Italian Army. This was a
coiiiplotoly equipped sur^^cal hospital mounted on twenty
(Minions, with a capacity of forty-eight beds. The sudden
ending of the war found it still uncompleted, so it was
never available for its intended use. When last heard
from it was on its way to Kumania.

The first representatives of America's fighting forces
on Italy's soil were the Army and Navy Aviators who
hud been sent for training to Italian camps. Over one
hundred were in camp at Foggia when the Italian Com-
mission arrived in Italy. The American Bed Cross gave
a Christmas dinner to as many of these as were allowed
to come to Rome, but when it sought to supply their needs
at the camp there seemed little for it to do. They made
modest requests for reading matter and better mail service.
Of course books and magazines were immediately supplied,
and an effort was made to accelerate the mail servica
Later a club was started for them. Food supplies were
given from time to time, and when the epidemic came an
emergency hospital was established with American nurses
in charge. The Americans in training at the hydro-avia-
tion camps at Bolsena and Porto Corsini were similarly
cared for.

When the American Army ambulance unit from. Allen-
town arrived in Italy, twelve hundred strong, it was given
an impressive welcome by the Italians. Within an hour
of its arrival the walls were covered with placards read-
ing : " Citizens, soldiers from America are today on Italian
soil. Acclaim our brothers from the land of Columbus ! *'
Naturally the Red Cross was on hand when they arrived,
helping them first to disembark and to assemble their cars,
supplying every need from spark plugs up, and then look-
ing out for the comfort and health of the boys. It fol-
lowed them as they moved on towards the front, and pro-

iMERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY

ntua during ^^M
saying that ^^^

yided them with an emergency hospital at Mantua
the influenza epidemic. And it goes without
the officers in charge o£ American Base Hospital No. 331
serving the American troops, and of the New Orleans Unit
attached to Base Hospital No. 102 at Vicenza, had only
to make known a want to have it immediately met. Large
quantities of medical and surgical supplies, drugs, etc,
rcRched our soldiers in this way.

Detached groups passing through Italy from time to
time, sailors on shore duty, engineers, military mail clerks,
were aided in every possible way. The Red Cross extended
comfort and relief to all, from the American Military
Mission under General Treat, down to the scattered army
mail clerks who made use of the Red Cross canteens and
rest houses at Turin and Milan,

In the last days of July the first American soldiers
reached Italy, — the 332d Ohio Regiment. They were
given a hearty reception at the Turin Station, which was
gay with the flags of the allied nations. An Italian band
played the Star Spangled Banner and a detachment
of Italian troops presented arms on the arrival of each
train. The first class waiting room had been attractively
fitted up for the entertainment of the officers, who were re-
ceived by a Committee of Italian women. And the entire
personnel of the Red Cross of Turin served the soldiers
at tables on the station platform with hot coffee, sand-
wichea, chocolate, cigarettes, and matches. "When they de-
trained at Villa Franca the whole Red Cross personnel
from Vicenza, and as many Red C'rosa ambulance men
as could be spared, were on hand to give them a welcome,
serving coffee, lemonade, chocolate, and doughnuts.
There wasn't a chance for a man to get homesick or hungry.
They all had their army rations in plenty, but they took
pleasure none the less in filing past the Red Cross stands,
gayly decorated with flowers, and their cups and hands
were well filled before they got past the American w
in Red Cross uniforms who were there to serve

162 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

There were Bersaglieri troops always on hand as a guard
of honor, and a Bersaglieri band to play on the arrival of
the trains. Italians of all ranks vied with the Bed Cross
workers in the cordiality of the reception. An emergency
hospital was ready to receive the few who needed medical
attention, and here fourteen were cared for until they were
able to rejoin their company.

The historical importance of the occasion of the arrival
of American troops to take their places at the Italian front
was recognized by every one. General Diaz inmiediately
announc^ their arrival in an order of the day to his
army. It was a small force, but enough to make a fine
showing as they passed in review before the King of
Italy.

The American Bed Cross ran a rest house for the sol-
diers at Villa Franca. There were six rooms attractively
furnished, and an old garden, and here our soldiers re-
ceived refreshments and made themselves at home after
their long, hot, and dusty tramps. As a group of these
soldiers came in one day singing with much gusto " Hail 1

Hail ! the gang's all here. What the " etc., an old

native who stood admiringly by was heard to remark:
" Here come the dear boys singing their national anthenu*'

When the regiment was finally put under canvas at
Valeggio the Red Cross followed them, setting up two de-
mountable houses for their use where refreshments were
served and entertainments given. Chocolate, cigarettes,
hot coffee, and crackers were distributed free to the men
on the march and in the trenches, and were sold to the men
in the rest camps, but at a nominal price. This method
was adopted at the request of the officers as it was sup-
posed to make for a fairer distribution. Packages of
crackers distributed in this way, ran into the tens of thou-
sands, and chocolate literally was given out by the ton.

When the American soldiers were sent to man the
trenches at Varago the Red Cross went with them ; when
they were withdrawn to quarters in Treviso it provided

ERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY 163 '

ER
house ■where games aod reading matter
n,..w ^.>j,j,.-^i. ^^J refreshments served. But our troops
were hardly settled at Treviao when the hig October offen-
sive began on the Italian front. A few days later the
Americans were ordered to go forward. But the enemy

■ was already in full retreat and it took forced marches day
and night before they were overtaken near the Taglia-
mento where the final skirmish occurred. The heavy
army lorries had difficulty in crossing the light pontoon ^
bridges which had been hurriedly thrown across the rivers
and were unable to keep up with our troops. So for five
days the men lived on " iron rations " (hard tack and
tinned beef). Fortunately the lighter Red Cross camion
and ambulance which went forward with the troops laden
with supplies had been able to make the crossings. And
every day the little camion plied back and forth over the
tangled, shell-torn roads, congested with the heavy traffic
of war, bringing back from the Red Cross base a load of
^L good things; and every day each man received a big cake
^H of chocolate and a box of biscuits, and cigarettes and
^f matches. Some days soup was added. At times the Red
Cross cars were used to assist in hauling army supplies.
The supplemental food and the cigarettes were, as the sol-
diers called them, " life savers." " Smokes " at suoli
times are worth their weight in gold and chocolate i
tasted so good. The commanding officer of the American^
troops one day, when the men were well over the Piav^#
^_ putting his hand on the shoulders of the Red Cross rep- '
^H resentative, said with feeling : " All the time we have been
^H in Italy the Red Cross has been invaluable to us. All the
^B time we have appreciated it. But during this advance it
has been just simply a Godsend." After that the hard-
ships, the cold, and the sleepless nights meant nothing to
the Red Cross men who were fortunate enough to be en-

» gaged in this service and the difficulties of connecting wiib J
the base of supplies but added zest to their labors. "

A final distribution was made just before the men went"

into action near the Tagliameuto. This was the firat i
only battle in which the Americans were engaged on 1
Ilaliaa front, and our loasea were: one killed, and seven
wounded. The wounded were reached on the field by the
Red Cross men, one of whom had been with our soldiers
ever since their arrival in Italy, helping to establish com-
munication between the men and their families, straighten-
ing out tangles legal and domestic. But he bad also made
himself generally useful as a purveyor of news, a general
information bureau, a father confessor, and an errand boy,
and had won the confidence and affection of the men. As
he leaned over to heip one of the wounded men that day
the youth looked up with a smile of satisfaction.— One
load at least had been lifted from his mind. — " Say, old
scout," he said, " you'll be sure to have the Red Cross get
word to my mother that — it isn't anything — you'll do
that without fail, won't you ? You know — you know " —
his voice broke just a bit, not on account of his own sufFer-
ing, but at the thought of his mother's suspense —" you
know, old scout, I don't want — her — to worry ! "
" Don't you fret, my son," was the reply, " your message
will get to your mother as fast as wire and cable will take
it in war time," And the Red Cross saw that it did.

Some two weeks later a Red Cross man happened across
a battalion of Americans headed for Montenegro. Drop-
ping for the time being the business in hand, he put him-
self and his supplies at the service of our soldiers, took the
sick to the hospital, and arranged with the Presidio at
Mestre for baths for the whole thousand men, — baths
with real towels, a service much appreciated, for the men

I had been a month without a change of clothes and had been
on long hikes daily, sleeping in pup-tents, with an uncer-
tain supply of food, and they had just come in on camions
from Udine, a hard sixteen-bour ride. When this bat-
talion embarked from Venice the Red Cross went with it,
taking an ambulance, which was to prove of much value
of its lightness on the poor Montenegrin roadfl, and

(

fisttMS-^

I adding to the store of food generous supplies from the"

I Venice warehouse, including five barrels of lard, about &

I ton of clear-helly bacon, and quantities of condensed milk,

;se, soup, coffee, sugar, etc., and socka and pajamas.

On two other occasions supplies were sent to these men to

supplement the meagre Italian rations on which they were

living.

The American destroyers in Italian waters were given
large quantities of food, and also soap, which was as much
appreciated as the food, for in some cases the men had
been for weeks without this necessary article, and bad had
to resort to a lye solution for cleaniiness.

At all times sweaters, socks and pajamas were given toi
the men as needed. On Christmas every American sol-
dier in Italy, and as many men of the Navy as could ba
reached, received a present from the Red Cross. When
Italy was made a zone of leave for our men in France,
and a number of our M. P.'s were sent to Eome to look
after them, the Ked Cross provided them with beds and
bedding. Stranded soldiers whose pay-cbeques had been
delayed were helped with money advances, but (by army
orders) only on the recommendation of the commanding
officer. When finally our men went into camp at Genoa,
waiting for passage home, a Red Cross representative was
stationed with them to administer in every way to their
comfort.

What the Bed Cross meant to our American troops in
Italy may be read in the following letter from Chaplain
Kelly of the 332d Ohio:

"I have had it in mind to write you an expresaion of my
appreciation regarding the activities of the American Eed Ctoaa
as it has concerned our Regiment. In order that I may do so
permit me to go back and give you a short history from the
beginning of our entrance into Italy.

" We had been in France long enough to enjoy and appreciatoj
the well organized efforts of your people there, and I must ec
feaa that it woa with a little misgiving and mingled feelin
that we received our orders to come to Italy. We knew t'

166 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

there were no American troops ahead of us, and oonld not help
but wonder what, if anything, would be done for our comfort
in the land that was to be our new home. But these misgiyings
were soon to be destroyed. We came from France, over the
Alps, into Italy by the usual means of soldier transportation
over here namely, the box car route, and you can scarcely
realize the joy that was to be ours that day.

^ It does not take much of an imagination to guess a fellow's
feelings as he goes into a new land, to behold new customs, to
mingle with a new people, and to hear spoken a new tongue.
Then, thinking of all these things, we pull into Turin. Bands
of music, Italian guards of honour, cheering populace, build-
ings and depot gaily decorated, all this, but best of all right in
the very center of activities a huge sign AMEBIOAN RED
CEOSS. Did the painter paint this sign in any unusual way,
or was it just imagination, for it seemed to us that it was a halo
of glory. And then those eats, served by those American Bed
Cross men and women. What was true of Turin, was true of
"M^jIftTi^ Brescia, Verona and all along the trip. Some of our
train sections arrived at these various points by day and some
by night, but it mattered not, the Bed Cross was perpetual
motion, iJie coffee was always hot, and eats a plenty on hand.

^^ Our destination was Villa Franca, and the Bed Cross hos-
pitality reigned supreme. The section on which the writer was
arrived at tibis point in the night, but no one was asleep on the
job. We shall remember that night because, besides many other
things, there were real doughnuts. Many things in war are
camouflaged. They have to be. But there was no camouflage
about these doughnuts. Not only were there doughnuts but
plenty of them. Imagine a soldier traveling from the heart of
France, on a 'soldiers' Pullman,' feeding on corned beef and
hardtack, and the other usual traveling rations, and then being
told to help himself to doughnuts. I don't know how many
doughnuts can be made for a dollar but if those dollar investors
back in the States could have secreted themselves around the
Villa Franca depot and could have seen the grinning and happy
faces of those soldier boys it would have been dividend enough
for their money.

" We f oimd that Villa Franca was to be our home for a week
or two. It is a strange but beautiful little city. There is
nothing wrong with their hospitality. We were billeted among
them. They did their very best for us. But as I have stated
before things were different. Strolling up the street one day
shortly after our arrival, thinking about home, and wife, and
loved ones, quietly humming to myself, * Where do we go from

aSTERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY

, boys,' which was always the question uppennoBt i
' minds, I noticed ahead of mo floating in the gentle Italian

Old Globv. My, what a sight! You doubtless have had the
same thrill that came over me that sunuuer day. I quickened
my pace, and as I drew near wondering what kind of a building
. it could be I saw the sign American Red Cross, Walk In. That
Lwas all the recommend and invitation that was necessary. In
ml went. The talo is soon told You had rented a splendid
Fbuilding and made it so homelike. There were American
I magazines and papers, dotted around the roonia were writing
tables with everything necessary for the boys to write their
loved ones, over here in another corner a gramophone playing
American music and songs, back in another room real ice cold
lemonade, with real ice. I just don't know where you got that
ice, neither do I know where you got a whole lot of the comforts
that you have afforded us, but you seem to get them just the
same. And as though that were not enough you had upstairs a
room fully equipped for Officers for you seem to have realized
that Officers get lonesome and homesick too.

"After a short stay in Villa Franca we were moved out into
B large camp near Vallegio. We had ceased to wonder
whether or not the Ked Cross would be with us. We just seemed
to know they would- We discovered that no sooner had the
camp site been located than the Red Cross man was on the job.
By the time our tents were nicely pitched, the first of your
two huts that were finally erected was under construction. Very
Boon, we found a well built, neat, and attractive home again.,
I could speak of various phases of good accomplished here.
There was the invaluable help afforded by the Home Service
Department, the reading and writing facilities provided, the
home-like American workers. It is hard to individualize and
specialize in such a many-sided proposition as yours. How well
I remember in my hospital work during those hot summer days
seeing your workers pass in and out among the wards with
cold lemonade, flowers, egg nogg, papers and books. It seemed
as though they just touched our lives everywhere.

" Then came the time when we were moved into the trenches
and got in readiness for the drive. Tou moved with us, and by
the time we were fairly located you were on the job scattering
sunshine. I hardly know how to speak of those days or what
especial part to mention. How well we all remember when far

i advanced north, the long tramping with heavy packs had been
so hard, the bridges had been blovm up by the Austrians, our
heavy trucks, being of the heavy Riker variety, could not cross
the temporary pontoon bridges that had been laid down, rations

168 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

were none too plenty or good, but you were there. Choc
never seemed as good before, plenty of chocolate and
charges. It just seemed to me that you represented America
with her mother love and liberty as never before and yoa
rested and refreshed. I am sure you did just what America
wanted you to do.

" I could apeak of hospital work. Tou remember when tired
and exposed by heavy marching the dreadful scourge of influenza
struck us. Hundreds of our men were sick and needed hospital
care. Our hospitals were filled. Something had to be done.
As though by magic you stepped in, the Padova Red Cross
Hospital was placed at our disposal and from that tiine to this
our men have been carefully and generously nursed back to
health. I am sure we shall never forget Captain Oliver Kiel,
MJ)., the Commanding Officer, and the fine staff of that hos-
pital. Then again I remember when our field hospital was
filled and we had many cases of serious sickness you sent us a
complement of splendid nurses to help out in the emergency.

" I remember a funeral scene of which I should like to speak.
One of our men had died at your hospital in Padova. On the
day of the funeral it rained, it literally poured rain. A com-
pany of our soldiers led by our Regimental Band paraded for the
funeral. But this is not what I remember just now. There
were three American Red Cross nurses marching in the pro-
cession carrying flowers to place on that soldier's grave. I said
to them, ' Tou should not do this, the weather is too severe.'
' But, Chaplain, we are taking the place of the mother, sister
and sweetheart.' That's it. Colonel, and that's what you have
been doing all these months. That is the key note of the whole
story and of your success. Tou have been representing our
loved ones back homo.

" Christmas came, and because the war was over we would
have liked to have been home. But that could not be. The
Army issue in Italy does not make an accustomed Christmas
dinner. But your delegate at Treviso and his splendid staff saw
an opportunity to even things for us a little and he generously
supplemented that Christmas of ours till we had a r^ular feed.
Thanks again to the Red Cross.

" I could go on and on, but you doubtless have all these reports

at your disposal from your various departments and workers.

But in spite of this I have heard so many expressions of delight,

and have been the recipient of so many kindnesses that it seems

■! woiild be guilty did I not express them if only in part.

ling you of my deepest appreciation for all you have

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITAL*f

I done for us here in Italy as well as elsewhere, believe
( a member for life of the American Eed Crosa."

The ehief fnnctioD of the Home Service Department
the Red Cross was to relieve the American soldier of .
mental anxieties such as worry over unforeseen domestic
or hn^'incss complications, over failure to hear from home,
or over news from home that allotment cheques were not
going through,^ — - in short, to dispel the fears so easily
aroused in the mind of the soldier that his loved ones were
Buffering because of his inability to look after their
needs. The Red Cross sought to act as far as possible in
the soldier's stead. Often the worries started from the
other end of the line, from the homes. Families hecame
anxious hecause they had lost track of the soldier memher,
or had perhaps heard that he was sick or wounded hut
were receiving no further information. In such case the
Red Cross would locate the soldier and send back reporta
of his condition. And through its representatives in the
hospital it sought to keep the families informed about the
sick and wounded without waiting for the request from
home.

Trom the time of the arrival of our troops in Italy tha]
Eed Cross representatives were with them to perform these
services. It was comparatively simple to do this work
when one could call upon the Red Cross organization in
America with its twenty-one thousand chapters and
branches scattered all over the land, and its many times
twenty-one thousand workers. This was, however, but a
small part of the demand made upon the Home Service De-
partment in Italy, where an altogether unique condition was
created by the fact that there was a very large number of
American soldiers of Italian parentage with our forces in
Europe. Home Service with them generally
reaching their families still residing in Italy, and the
difficulties presented were often all but insuperable.

170 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

The very first task thrown upon the Department was of
such magnitude as to prove a severe strain on the small
organization. In a single day the American Embassy in
Borne received for distribution seventeen thousand iJlot-
ment cheques. Nearly ninety per cent of the addresses
were inaccurate^ and the military attache in despair ap-
pealed to the Red Cross, which in a comparatively short
time succeeded in correcting ten thousand of the addresses
and starting the cheques on their way. Many, however,
were in such bad shape that they had to be referred back
to Washington. The work on allotment cases was carried
on in close cooperation with the Italian Eoyal Conmiis-
sioner of Emigration and with the United States Bureau
of War Bisk Insurance, which in October, 1918, established
a branch in Bome.

The incredible amount of confusion in the names and
addresses of beneficiaries in Italy was partly due to the
ignorance of the soldier making the allotment, who would
fail to supply full information, and partly to the ignor-
ance of the army agents, or to their unfamiliarity with
Italian, which led to mistakes in copying addresses that
had been given correctly, or to the omission of essential
details. Mistakes in spelling the names of places were
generally fairly easy to remedy. For example, Lannicola
Dellarto could be readily spotted as a miscopying of San
Nicola Dell'Alto. But if a letter came addressed simply

— to take one of many instances — to the town of Cas-
tello, there was nothing to do but refer back to Washing-
ton, there being over eighty towns of this name in Italy,

— as many as nine in a single province. Names of bene-
ficiaries caused even greater confusion. A soldier might,
for example, following the Italian usage, have innocently
written after his mother's name the word " Vedova," mean-
ing " widow " ; and the cheque would come through ad-
dressed to Mrs. Vedova. Again, Italians when they be-
come American citizens generally translate their names,
in some fashion or other, into English. These could gen-

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITAL^

Herally be turned back into Italian without much difficulty.

•^ Thus Mrs. Jamea Cappa could be identified as Mrs. Gia-
como Capoccetti. It required a good deal of ingenuity,
however, to get John Bigfeet back into Giovanni Marti-
nelli, nicknamed Grandepiedi, from a recognized family
characteristic. The most amusing case of this sort was J
that of an American soldier who had been brought over I
to this country by friends when he was a very small boy.
In his old village home he had been called Piccolo Pietro
(little Peter), his father being known as Largo Pietro.
He never knew any other name. In the course of time he
became an American citizen under the name of Peter
Pick, and as such enlisted in the United States Army.
And when every one was making allotments to relatives,
thinking perhaps that this was a necessary part of enlist-
ment, he remembered his old father and made his allot-
ment to Largo Pietro, the only name he knew him by.
But he had remembered the name of his native village,
and the Red Cross succeeded in running to earth Largo J
Pietro and making him the sharer in Uncle Sam's and his 1
son's generosity. |

The most unfortunate result from this confusion of |
names came from the fact that thousands of cheques ar-
rived made out in the name of the husband with only the
prefix " Mrs." Now in many communities in Italy there
seems to be a great dearth of surnames, or poverty of the
imagination. It is not infrequent to find, even in a small
village, as many as fifty men of the same name. It ia
doubtless for this reason that the women, especially of the
peasant class, retain their own family name. For, while
there might be a good many Giuscppi Geradis in a
tovra, it was not likely that there would be more than one
" Maria Pampino wife of Giuseppi Geradi." Until the
postal authorities became cognizant of the contents of the
envciopes that began to arrive from the United States
Treasury Department they were likely to give the cheques
to any one of the same name who called for mail, and

172 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

just as likely to cash the cheques for them. Conseqaenilj
many were receiving aid who had no claim whatever,
while many with the hest claims were going with-
out. In one place two women of the same name had sonB
in the United States Army and one was drawing the
cheques for both. In one case the cousin was drawing the
cheques and the mother of the soldier who was old and in
need was grieving^ not so much because of her need of the
money as because of her sorrow that her son had remem-
bered the yoimg and fair cousin rather than herself.
When she received a letter from her boy in which he stated
that he hoped she was receiving the cheques regularly her
joy in knowing that he had thought of her was so great
that she forgot all about the past cheques that were due her
and apparently bore no grudge against the cousin.

Generally where other persons than the rightful bene-
ficiaries had cashed the cheques the money had been spent.
In these cases the Red Cross tried by persuasion and by
threat to have the money refunded in small payments at a
time, and was often successful. It never resorted to the
processes of the law. If a case seemed to call for such
treatment the matter was referred to the Royal Emigration
Commission.

As a result of all this confusion allotment cheques were
delayed, or failed to arrive altogether, or, arriving, fell
into the wrong hands. This situation caused one of the
most persistent and burdensome tasks of the Department.
Families would write that their soldier relative had told
them that they would receive a certain monthly allowance
and that it had not come. Soldiers would complain that
the sums allotted from their pay with the added govern-
ment allowance had never been received by their families,
which were consequently in great distress. Similar mes-
sages kept coming from the Red Cross Headquarters at
Washington or at Paris. It was the task of the Italian
Commission to trace the missing cheques and, pending

AMERICAN TBOOFS IN ITALY

their delivery, to take care of the families whenever i\u

were found to be in destitute circumstances.

Whenever it was possible the Red Cross delegati
the different parts of Italy carried on the Home Servii
work in their vicinity. But it was necessary to add
corps of home visitors whose time was wholly given
this work which extended to every corner of Italy. Oft(
the places to be visited were many miles from the railroai
not infrequently perched on the tops of high mountains
and to be reached only on foot or on niuleback. Trains
were few and conditions of travel as bad as could he.
The little villages had no hotels, and sanitation was
thing unknown. Food of a sort was generally obtai
able; heating never. But one should not say never, ft
one of our home visitors writes:

" I have sweet visions of a dear old Italian mother
bent by hard labor interrupting my reading of her sol-
dier son's letters to say ' My lady, your hands and feet,

I cold,' and bringing in her hands two little earthen
jars of live coals with which to warm my hands and feet,
tnd offering an uncooked egg in the spirit of gracious
hospitality. She could neither read nor write but ahftj
could feel, and she saw in this Red Cross visitor a wi
to reach her boy and was full of gratitude."

" One old widowed mother of seventy years [I continue'
to quote from this visitor's report], living all alone in
1 had not seen her only child in over six years.
When I told her my errand she swelled with pride and
replied : ' Yes, my lady, my Amedeo is fighting for the
great United States somewhere — I do not know where.
It is eight months since I have heard from him, and only
twice have I received my allotment cheques,— the last
one five months ago. But, lady, no matter ("'fa niente"),
I am happy if I hear from my hoy and have work. I

twork in the fields for 1.25 lira (about twenty-five cents)
a day, when I can get work at all. But now in the

I
I

he. ,

}UB

lue '

174 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

mountains — the fingers freeze. But read me, my edu-
cated lady, what my Amedeo says to me in tibis letter,
once more. Read to me what this card with the little
Red Cross upon it says about my son. — Write for me
to his captain and beg him to let my boy come home once
more to see me before I die, before he returns to that
far-oflf United States. Also, write my Amedeo and tell
him that in a few days I shall go up on the mountains
to get some wood. Look, lady, at the "polenta*' up
there ' (and she pointed to the few ears of com hanging
from the ceiling) ; — * look there ' (and she pointed with
her withered hand to the fireplace) — ^ there I will cook
him a nice dinner, and there in that comer I will build
me a bed and he can have this nice one. Oh, write,
my lady, I do want to hear from my Amedeo.*

" Can you imagine how thankful this poor old soul
was when I told her not to worry; that the Red Cross
would write her son and be her friend. I wrote this sol-
dier and told him how proud he should be of such a brave,
courageous old mother, how she smiled as the tears stood
in her eyes, and how she loved him. Poor mother ! Only
a few days ago we had to write her telling her that her
Amedeo had fallen in battle. And so again a small
cheque was sent to this suffering old mother who gave
her all."

Endless were the tales the Home Service visitors brought
back from their arduous journeys, most of them sad, a few
more joyous, but all of them telling the same story, —
that the heart of the mother of Amedeo may beat in a
different language but beats with the same pride and
love, the same worries and deep sorrows, and the same
stout courage as the hearts of the loving mothers of Amer-
ica.

The work of the Home Service Department has been
the hardest of all of the Red Cross activities to bring to
an end in Italy. It seemed as if the termination of
hop**'** had but increased the demand for this kind

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY IW

of service. More than a year after the signing of the
armistice the Eed Croaa was still handling three or four
thousand cases a month.

On January 1, 1919, the Bureau of War Risk In-
surance withheld all requests for allowances until a claim
of dependency had been established. In order to estaV
lish this claim it was necessary to fill out a hlank printed
in English sent from the Department in Washington to
the claimants in Italy, Since most of these claimants
could scarcely read their own tongue it is not surprising
that hardly any of these so-called " mail investigation
forms " had been filled in and returned to Washington.
As a result, even those who had been regularly receiving
their allotments and allowances were suddenly cut off,
and were much perplexed to know the reason why, but
felt sure that they were in some way being defrauded.
Again many soldiers who had gone through the war with
a serene mind, feeling that their dependents in Italy were
being well cared for in accordance with the provisions
they had made for allotment, found, upon reaching home
after demobilization, letters awaiting tbem telling of great
distress, for the cheques had not come through. In gen-
eral the Italian-Americans who were serving with our
forces in Prance asked to be demohilized there in order
that they might visit their native village in Italy to see
their wives and children or their aged parents, and in
many hundreds of cases the request was granted. They
came hack with a feeling of satisfaction in having been
able to provide so generously for their dependents, proud
of the country of their adoption that had made this possi-
ble, and rather anxious to parade in the uniform of their
new country. Most of them, however, were doomed to
the disppointmeut and disillusionment so feelingly voiced
in the following letter from one of them:

" Cariseima Red Cross

" I have come all way from France for see ma wife and oh^
and veesit ma home and I have thought evrabody would be g*

170 THE AHBRICAK BID CBOSS IN TTALY

for tee me and I wonM tell much boot the war and ma nevr
country who I am giving two years for defend. My country as
was promise send my wife and child $15 from my monthly paid-
ment and put to it nother $15. But you dint do neither.
Thirty dollars American money make so many lires as we dont
much see in Silva Marina and I am thinking as I would find my
family all fine. Instead Cara Signora what you theenk I find —
my wife seek in bed and ma g^irl seek too and my friends not
sooch good friends because they are thinking I am gone off and
leave ma wife and child for them to care for ma

^ And now ma dear friend American Bed Cross wont you
please give me an information since the great American Gor-
emment is not ma friend and I know how evrabody is to buay
for bother weetha me, wont you please carissima Signora help
me get this money. I am earn this money honestly when I am
fight in France.

''If I dont get this money I dont wanta wear the uniform.
Before now I am having much pride bout wearing uniform and
I am theenking how ma wife would say as it was beautiful But
now our friends they laugh at me.

'' I am hoping I get letter from you and money too.

" Giovanni Antonelll**

To do the large amount of home visiting that was
called for it was necessary to find men and women of tact
and good judgment and much common sense, — workers
who might know just when and how much and what kind
of assistance should be given to these Italian families
of United States soldiers in order not to encourage the
spirit of dependency, and at the same time to keep them
from falling below the level of decent and respectable liv-
ing as measured by the standards of their several com-
munities, and to know how to interpret this relief in terms
of dollars and cents — or to be more exact, lire — not
an easy matter in the small Sicilian hill towns where the
people, like our own American Indians, are in the habit
of exchanging one commodity of which they have a sur-
plus for another of which they have need, and hardly know
what to do with legal tender. These workers had to have
a fluent knowledge of Italian in order to thread their
way through the maze of the many dialects, for there is

a saying in Italj that there are two hundred and nin^
varieties of cheeae made and two hundred and ten varie-
ties of Italian spoken. And they must be humble-niinded
enough to endure the hospitality of a spare room fre-
quently shared with the favorite pig or the family goat
Such agents were found, and they have carried' ou their
work under the burning Sicilian sun, in the hleak and
forbidding mountains of the Ahruzzi, and through the
desolated regions of the Piave. They have stood all night
in the corridors of over-crowded trains and then worked
all day in the village piazza, or in a small room where
people, odoriferous and noisy, have pressed about eager
for an interview with the American Ked Cross.

In the north where the eases were more scattered the
Red Cross agent personally visited each family. In the
Veneto and along the Piave, in the invaded districts,
were many families who had given sous to the American
army who had formerly been thrifty and used to some
degree of comfort, and had lost everything through the
hardships of war, including their cattle, and not infre-
quently their homes. To these families, special victims
of the war's hardships, relief was given more generously
than elsewhere. But in a nimiher of instances where re-
lief was offered it was declined. The spirit of these
people was well expressed by the Mayor of one town who
had thanked the Red Cross for its services in assisting
the families of American soldiers in filling out the blanks
which proved their claims, but when asked if the Ked
Cross might be of monetary assistance, replied with quiet
pride : " We have suffered much in this war, but we
have learned to endure. The Italian government will
soon make recompense for our losses; your government
will soon send what is due, and that is enough."

This was not the spirit shown in Sicily and in south-
ern Italy. But no one who has any knowledge of the
extreme hardships which the people endured in that pov-
erty-stricken portion of Italy during the war will

178 THE AMBEICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

fault with their eagerness to take what they could get
from the bounty of their rich ally. Most of the cases
dealt with were in this part of Italy, and no attempt was
made to visit each one personally. The Mayor of a town
would be notified that on a certain day the Red Cross
representative would arrive, and he would be asked to
notify all those who had claims of any kind to interview
the agent. And at the same time the Red Cross sent
notices direct to all persons in the neighborhood of whom
it had record. Sometimes the notice was given by
placards posted throughout the district, and often the
town crier went forth to annoimce the arrival of the
agent, who in one instance was referred to as " the United
States of America that has arrived." Peasants rode and
walked over hills, down dusty roads, to present their
claims, bringing with them, by instruction, any documents
they might have to establish their case, which consisted
of everything from letters written by the soldier on Y.
M. C. A. paper to the various forms and instructions re-
ceived from the United States War Department or the Bu-
reau of War Eisk Insurance, the latter printed in English
and cherished as something almost sacred, and usually
carried inside the corsets, which the Italian peasants wear
outside their dresses. Generally the agent was able to
secure the assistance of some official of the district or
some member of the Italian Red Cross in filling in the
various forms; and printed instructions, in Italian, were
left with him that he might take care of future cases
in his district.

It was the plan of the Red Cross to give relief only
in those cases of evident distress caused by the failure of
the United States government to get its allotment cheques
through, which would have taken the place of the money
that formerly the soldier had been in the habit of sending
to his family when he was a workman in America. This
relio-f WQQ. however, reduced to a minimum, and the chief
' e Red Cross agents were expended in assist-

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITAE

^V mg the families to establtsli their claims to allowance,

^ compensation, or insurance. In some cases where the

faniDiea lived in altogether inaccessible communities the

Red Cross has depended upon the carabinieri, Italy's in-

I comparable military police, who cover every part of the
country on foot. More than five thousand claim blanks
were filled in directly by the Ked Cross agents, and ten
times that number indirectly through instructions they
gave to others.
About a year after the armistice the Red Croaa entered
upon its final phase of work. There were thirty thousand
men in the United States,— some were American citizens
and some had taken out their first papers, — who answered
the call to arms from across the water when Italy first
entered the war. The Italian government agreed to pay
the transportation of these men to Italy and to return
them to the United States within two years after the war.
There were, in November, 1919, nearly four thousand of
these men, many of them with their families, gathered in
Naples waiting to embark for America, and twenty thou-
sand more were expected during the following six months.
The American Consulate at Naples was so over-burdened
'by the extra work of viseing the passports for these
people that they were of necessity being detained from
one to five weeks at the Casa degli Emigranti. The Con-
sulate had no funds with which to meet this emergency,
and before it could get them the need would probably be
' over. Therefore it has seemed but right to regard it as
a part of the task of the Red Cross to relieve this con-
dition, which is in truth caused by a war emergency.
' Accordingly the Red Cross has been paying the salaries
. of extra clerks to expedite the work of visaing the pass-
ports of these reservists. And it has in addition attempted
to relieve the hardships of their delay in Naples by look-
ing after their welfare — providing extra food, beds,
! etc, at the Casa degli Emigranti. It may not be strictly
[ Home Service work, but it ia a legitimate extenflion

180 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALT

Red Cross activity which can only bear good fruit
The men and women who have for the past year been
engaged in Home Service work have performed their
tasks with devotion and enthusiasm. Had you chanced
to meet one of them returning to the city after a ten
days' campaign in the field, tired, with digestion upset,
and sadly in need of a bath, and asked him to tell you
of his experience, he would lightly pass over the discom-
forts and dwell at length upon the unfailing courtesy
of the people, from the officials down to the humblest
widow or little child. He did not feel in the least like
a martyr. He had had to ward off too much adoration
and gratitude all along the line. But he would gladly tell
you what the experience of being in touch with this gra-
cious people has meant, what an opportunity he has had
to know Italy as few Americans do, what he has learned
about the sources of emigration, and most of all what
pointers he could give the various organizations at home
that are interesting themselves in the problems of Amer-
icanization. During these latter months the relations
between Italy and America have been at times rather
tense. The Fiume question has been uppermost in the
minds of the Italians, and has not been far in the back-
ground of the consciousness of any of our representa-
tives. And yet not one of them has met with the slight-
est discourtesy, nor has the delay on the part of the United
States government in redeeming its pledges met with
any criticism other than that of natural impatience over
the necessity of waiting so long. On the other hand the
realization that America — and the people usually took
the Red Cross agents to be representatives of the Govern-
ment — was sufficiently interested in their individual
cases to know or care whether they received their subsidy,
was almost past comprehension. Truly they had sent
their own men forth to a land not only of great riches but
also of great ideals. And they understood, perhaps for
the first time, how the sons of Italy could go forth just

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ITALY 181

as joyously to fight for their new country as their brothers
went forth to fight for Italy. Who can doubt that these
sons of Italy, now that the battle is over, and they are
taking up the burden of their lives once more in the land
of their adoption, will do so with a greater courage, a
stouter faith, and deeper loyalty because of their knowl-
edge that the United States was mindful of their services
even to the extent of personally looking after the needs
of those whom they had left behind in Italy. ^

1 1 have drawn freely in the above narrative of Home Service work
upon the excellent report which Miss Mildred Ghadsey, director of
this branch of the Red Cross activity in Italy after May, 1919, pre-
pared for my use.

CHAPTER X

The Battle of Vittorio Veneto — Ambulances and Boiling
Canteens — Feeding the Eetumed Prisoners at Trieste —
Relief in the Invaded Territory — Aiding Bepatriates in the
Trentino

In the summer and early fall of 1918 the quiet on
the Italian front was broken only by occasioiud skir-
misheS; or by isolated efforts on either side to wrest some
minor strategic position from the opposed forces. Ever
since the battle of the Piave in June had shown that in
an open fight the Austrians were no match for the Italians,
the Italian soldiers had acquired renewed confidence in
themselves. They had taken once more to singing as
they marched, and, instead of looking ahead with appre-
hension to the time when Austria should launch her blow,
began to grow restive waiting for Italy to assume the of-
fensive. Nor was the impatience confined to the men at
the front. There were many who were asking: "Why
doesn't the army move ? "

It should be borne in mind that the armies of Italy, with
its population of less than forty million, were standing
practically alone against the armies of Austria, with its
population of fifty-seven million. It is true that there were
on the Italian front three divisions of French, two of
English, one Czecho-Slovak division, and one regiment of
Americans; but these were more than out-numbered by
the Italians fighting on the Serbian and French fronts.
In all, the enemy had a preponderance of some twenty
divisions. Moreover, on the mountain front in the nordi
the Italians might still be said to be " like men hanging
by their fingers to a window silL'^ And the Austrians

182

THE BATTLE OF VITTORIO VENETO

were higher up, entrenched in apparently impregnable'
positions. An advance to the eaat over the Piave could
not he undertaken with safety if there were any uncertainty
of the situation in the north. Meanwhile economic condi-
tions and food conditions had hecome so bad that a pre-
mature offensive ending in defeat, or even in a draw,
would have made it exceedingly difficult for Italy to hold
out through the coming winter. Patiently and thoroughly
General Diaz had been making his preparations, and on
the 24th of October, precisely one year after the disaster
of Caporetto, the attack was launched simultaneously on
both fronts.

It is a mystery to a layman how an army can remaittj
intact while the country liat supports it is politically dis-
integrating. Austria ever since the defeat in June had
been going to pieces. But her army was still a powerful
and well organized fighting machine, and gave a good ac-
count of itself, taking heavy toll of the Italians, partio
ulariy on the mountain front, where heights were often
captured, lost, and recaptured more than once. On the
plain the difficulties of the attack were increased by the
fact that rain had come and the Piave was in flood, rushing
madly over its gravel bed at the rate of eight feet a second.
Throwing pontoon bridges across this river would have
been no easy matter had there been no enemy fire to face.
Perhaps nowhere did the spirit of the Italian army show
to better advantage than here where the shells were falling
fast, and promptly, as one group of workers was wiped out,
another would move forward to take its place with perfect
order and discipline. At six different points the bridges
were laid, and over them the armies crowded after the
way had been prepared by a heavy barrage, all the Allies
finely cooperating. Though the enemy resistance for the
first few days had been stubborn, when the line once broke
the army collapsed and the retreat fast became a rout.
The allied armies followed close on the heels of the re-
treating enemy. There was some rear-guard fighting, a

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY^"^

a brief stand was made at Vittorio, and on the lower
TagliameDta But these efforts were ineffectual. The
Italians pushed on through Vittorio, up the valley of
the Heschio, took the lower Alpa of Belluno, at about the
same time that the forces further west were entering Feltre,
thus effectively cutting off the line of supplies from the
troops still holding their own on the Grappa massif, which
were forced to surrender.

The enemy had been driven back more rapidly than the
Italians had been forced hack over the same ground the
year before. It was a complete military victory. And
the army of Austria was a Uiing of the past. Caporetto
was avenged. The armistice was signed on the third of
November amid wild enthusiasm.'

When the first news of the coming offensive reached our
Red Croes ambulance sections it found the men ready and
eager. Section Four, situated at Schio and serving in the
Asiago sector, had had an eventful month in September,
But leas activity was expected on this part of the front in
the coming battle and consequently five of its ambulances
were assigned to Section One, at Bassano, which was serv-
ing the army on the Grappa and was therefore expected to
be in the center of greatest activity. There was keen
rivalry for the posts of danger. No one wanted the tame
but safe job of evacuation work at the rear, or posts on
what promised to be a quiet part of the line. Our men
were eager, almost too eager, to push forward, and many
a " Bravo Americano ! " greeted the ears of a driver as
his car would slip across some shell-ripped road to the
dressing post just behind the line. Bassano was heavily
bombarded in the early days of the battle. On the 26tJi
of October a shell exploding in the Brenta just beside our

1 The Italiaos lost during the war half a million dead, and a mil-
lion wounded. Her national debt at the beginning of the war waa
lesB than fifteen billion lire. On the Slat of October, 1019, thia had
increased to nearly eighty-four billion. During the same time her
paper •'■ Teaaed from two and three-quarter billion to nearly

twel^

rBATTLE OF VITTOEIO VENETO

^Hunbolance headquarters, threw a sheet of water over lihe
^^BCction chief who was sitting; at his desk. And a few
mimites later another fell in the courtyard on the other
side of the house, as a group of Arditi were hurrying by,
killing three of them and wounding seven. For many
months Eaasano had been a special target for Austrian
guns, and this much-hattered town was almost deserted by
its peace-time inhabitants. However, our men stationed
here met with hut one fatality. On the 29th of September
a shell had fallen near section headquarters, mortally
wounding volunteer Joseph M. King, a youth of nineteen
who, having been refused for more active service because
of a comparatively weak constitution, had enlisted as an
ambulance driver, which service he performed faithfully
and with enthusiasm. He faced death with a smile, as a
brave man should, and passed away peacefully in the
hospital six hours after he had been wounded. He was
buried with military honors, being borne to hia resting
place in hia own grey ambulance.

The Piave River and the Grappa Mountain will always ,
hereafter be objects of veneration, to the Italians, — the '
last line of defense, the chief bulwarks of her protection,
on the east and the north. The Grappa rises precipitously
from the plain just where the Brenta River emerges from
the mountain valleys. From its summit, on a clear day,
one could follow the whole battle line on the Piave, witb
Venice plainly visible in the far distance. It was the
pivotal position on the mountain front, and was the scene
of some of the hardest fighting of the war.

Our Section One served five outposts during the oifen-
sive, each provided with its own depot of gasoline, oil and
supplies, in charge of an Italian mechanic The most
interesting and arduous of these posts were the three on
the Grappa. The roads up this mountain were well made,
but very steep, and they zigzagged back and forth with
sharp angles. The Italians had been continuously at work
widening and improving them, so that there was room '

186 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

two good-sized camions to pass, with a margin of a few
feet, but there was no protection on the side, and it was
always a thrilling ride. A slight miscalculation, and the
car would not stop until it had rolled to the bottom. " You
have excellent drivers here," Kipling is said to have re-
marked to an Italian colonel as they were descending the
Grappa. " Yes," he replied, " the rest are down there,"
pointing over the edge to the valley beneath. And now the
roads were congested with the heavy traffic of war, and
with troops always going up or coming down ; and frequent
shell holes, dislodged stones, and unexploded shells added
to the difficulties and dangers. It required strength and
courage and constant attention on the part of the drivers
who were responsible for getting their human freight
through in safety to the nearest distributing station, often
as many as fifteen wounded men being taken on a single
trip. Provisions were rationed to each car and the men
worked day and night. The night work was especially
heavy; for long periods the nuiober of wounded was so
great that the ambulances did not stop their motors between
trips.

While Section One had been making service history in
the mountains, Sections Five and Three were working on
the plains. Section Five, with headquarters at Maser, was
attached to two units of the Medical Corps of the Italian
Army and was serving posts on the middle Piave. On the
30th of October it crossed the river at Barche-Vidor and
continued its work under great difficulties. The Austrians
had allowed the roads to go to ruin, trusting chiefly to a
narrow gauge track that they had built along the highways
and across the fields to transport army supplies. They
were badly cut up by the heavy army trucks with their iron
tires — rubber had long since given out in Austria — and
they were, besides, a series of shell holes, visible evidence
of the effectiveness of the Italian artillery fire. Every-
where were signs of a precipitate retreat: thousands of
)ts and gas masks cast aside, abandoned trucks and

1. _i_^^

OF TITTOEIO VENETO

■^^^^

cannoiij which the Miemj bad not had time to wreck ; and
there were great quantities of unexploded shells and hand
grenades lying aroiirid which were to prove the cause of
many a little tragedy before they were finally cleared
away.

And always there was the endless line of Austrian pris-
oners in their shabby grey uniforms. They seemed to he
in fairly good physical condition, hot were listless and
apathetic, ]ust a sea of bewildered humanity. No one ap-
peared to know what it had all been about, or to care. AJI
interest in life seemed cnished out of them, a tragic evi-
dence of the deadening effect of the war upon eountleas
numbers of men who are, with unconscious irony, said to
have survived. A Hed Cross representative passing a com-
pany of these prisoners resting by the roadside was hailed
by the Italian ofiicer who had them in charge and asked if
he could not provide something for them to eat, since they
had been a long time without food. He gave them what he
had, which was not much, and the Austrian captain, after
a formal salute, divided it in small portions while his men
crowded around like hungry wolves. It was a trifling inci-
dent, hut typical of the general kindly attitude of the vic-
tors toward the vanquished. It was the same spirit that
has led the Italians in recent months to take thousands of
starving Austrian children under their care, feeding them
to a large extent by means of funds provided by their
compatriots in America.

Now and again our ambulances were despatched along
little side roads into sequestered valleys where there were
hospitals that bad served the enemy, still filled with Aus-
trian sick and wounded who were in the last stages of
wretchedness, for they had been deserted by their doctors
and nurses, and left for several days without food or care.
The Italians took tender care of them, sending them back
to the bridge-heads, thence to be taken to the hoapitals in
the rear. But many died before they could be moved.

Section Three, working on the lower Piave, which

188 THE AMERICAN KED CROSS IN ITALY

made a record for its work in September, had less exciting
but scarcely less difficult tasks during the final offensive.
It was sent forward with the advancing army until some
of ita outposts reached as far as the suburbs of Trieste.
But the war was over, and this part of the Red Cross work
was done. During (he month of the offensive and the first
two weeks of November our ambulances had carried in all,
in 2500 trips, 30,492 cases, a total distance of 269,347
kilometers.

The ambulance sections were all withdrawn from the
field and disbanded in November, the cars, equipment, and
some of the personnel being transferred to the Departments
of Transportation and Civil Affairs, which, in the re-
deemed districts, were just entering upon a new phase of
Eed Cross activity that was soon to reach colossal pro-
portions.

In preparation for the great battle there had been some
shifts in the positions of our rolling canteens in order that
they might be of greater service to the troops that were to
bear the brunt of the fighting. After a strenuous week,
during which single canteens reached as many aa ten thou-
sand soldiers a day on their way to and from the trenches,
these canteens followed their divisions across the river.
But the rapid progress of the army and an insufficient
supply of camions made it difficult to continue this service
with the advancing troops. However, the need for it had
ceased. The spirit of a victorious army needs no stimula-
tion. And 80 these canteens generally ended their days in
some small town like Chiarano, Fossalta Maggiore, Portia,
Sedieo, where, in response to the joint request of military
and civil authorities, they gave what they had to relieve the
greater needs of the civilian population.

On the third of November a contingent of Italian Bersa-
glieri landed at Trieste and took the city without firing a
shot. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, they en-
tered on invitation and were welcomed as deliverers.
Word WP' ■ "^ sent to our Bed Cross delegate at Venice

C BATTLE OP VITTOEIO VENETO

that the hospitals were in great need of food and supplies.
A boat was immediately loaded, and within thirty-six hours
after the Italians entered the city, the Red Cross repre-
sentative was there with 50,000 lire worth of the necessary
articles. After distributing these supplies he returned, re-
porting no further need of Red Cross aid in Trieste, —
which only showed that, although the war was over, condi-
tions might still change completely over night. He could
not have foreseen that within a few days one of the gravest
situations Italy had to face, one most demanding Red Cross
relief, would suddenly develop in Trieste,

On the tenth of November the King arrived at Trieste,
followed by the Inter-Allied Military Kission, which
joined the royal procession, and was conducted through the
cheering crowds as on a pilgrimage to the picturesque old
church of San Giusto, which has been venerated for cen-
turies by the Italian population. The church was in a bad
state of repair, the Austrians not having allowed it to be kept
up, since it was in a way the center and the embodiment of
the nationalist aspirations of the Italians of Trieste, Now
the Italians never let material needs take precedence over
sentiment. Already a scaffolding was in place, and the
work of restoration had begun.

But there were in Trieste that day over ten thousand
unbidden and unwelcome guests. Immediately after the
signing of the armistice Austria turned looae all the
Italian prisoners, of whom there were some four hundred
thousand. They had gone south hy the shortest route,
and were pouring into Trieste, hoping for transportation
by water to Venice where they could entrain and continue
their journey. Always under-nourished in the prison
camps of Austria, they had been walking for days almost
without food. They were all in rags, many of them bare-
foot, many with pieces of old cloth or sacking tied around
their feet, scarcely one with a sound pair of shoes. When
at last they dragged themselves dovm the hill into Tri'
it was only to find themselves shut in the conceatr

190 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

camp that had been hurriedly improvised behind the iron
fence that surrounds the wonderful docks of this port.
The situation was appalling. No one who saw it can ever
forget the haunting picture of these dazed and wretched
men, clinging to the palings of the iron fence, and gazing
hungrily at the crowds outside making merry over the
King's visit. The best the government could do was to
transport a few thousand a day ; but they kept coming in
such numbers that before long there were a hundred thou-
sand in camp waiting to embark. No one had anticipated
such a situation, and the government was almost helpless
in the matter of providing food. There was literally no
food available in Trieste. Lard was selling, figured at
the then rate of exchange, at ten dollars a pound, dried
herring at $1.75 a pound, rice at $2.50 a pound. Bread
was unspeakably bad and very scarce. Most fortunately
one of our rolling canteens immediately after the armistice
had pushed on through the Austrian lines to Trieste and
was there when the prisoners began to arrive. It was at
once set up in the concentration camp. But its two mar-
mites could provide only five hundred portions at a time,
which soon proved inadequate. Long before the soup was
ready in the kettles a line of thousands would form.
Starving men, when a certain limit is reached, wiU fight
for food. Sometimes the line broke, and the distribution
had to be suspended to prevent riots. But fourteen addi-
tional kettles were promptly secured, food was rushed
by water and by land from our well-stocked warehouses,
and during the nineteen days that elapsed before the pris-
oners could be removed the Bed Cross served 700,000 por-
tions, each consisting of about a liter of hot, strong soup.
In addition to giving food it distributed 25,000 woolen
garments and 1500 pairs of shoes. The work was greatly
appreciated by the military authorities who spoke of it
as a veritable " act of Providence." The British Bed
Cross also gave valuable assistance, providing 190,000
T9'' t three-fourths of them being the triple army

I
I

THE BATTLE OF VITTORIO VENETO

ration, beside furniBbing large quantities of horse meat
There was a great deal of siekneas in the camp and the
Italian authorities found it necessary to open seven emer-
gency hospitals with a capacity of 7,000 patients. These
were filled almost immediately, and the Red Cross was able
to be of great assistance by supplying food and disin-
fectants.

After the closing down of the work in Trieste a small
steamer was secured through the courtesy of the naval au-
thorities and food was distributed to a number of small
towns on the Istrian coast which were found to be in very
great need.

The universal rejoicing in Italy when the armistice waa
signed and the war ended in victory was accompanied by a
peculiar sense of exaltation due to the consciousness that
at last the hour of vindication bad come. The tricolor had
been planted on the natural protective boundaries, the
Brenner in the north and the Julian Alps in the east.
And the dream of the old heroes bad been realized. All
the Italian lands had been redeemed — all, save a few
small colonies scattered along the Adriatic. The unity of
Italy was an accomplished fact. But the rejoicing was
immediately checked by the sobering knowledge that the
armistice had hut substituted new burdens for old. All
the once prosperous little towns along the Piave, extending
through a strip about ten miles in width, were mere heaps
of ruins. The same desolation existed along the Brenta,
up through the Val Sugana, and through the Val Lagurina.
The situation was no better along the old battle line near
the Isonzo. And many of the towns not on the battle
fronts had been badly battered by air raids.

The people who had remained in the four Italian
provinces that had been occupied for a year by the Aus-
trians were in a state of utter destitution. The enemy had
not been guilty of acts of fiendisbness such as are reported
of the Germans in Belgium and France, They had

I
I

192 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

traps as they withdrew. There had been no wanton de-
struction of property, and but little deliberate fouling of
houaea. But there had been systematic and wholeaate rob-
bery. In the early days of occupation all the Italian
money had been taken from the people and they had been
given in return the much-depreciated Austrian money.
Later this waa taken from them and they were given in ex-
change worthless paper money issued on the non-existent
Bank of the Veneto. The houses that had been deserted by
the refugees in the exodus after Caporetto had been
stripped of everything, and in many cases were left
mere shells, even the floors having been cut out for the sake
of the timbers. And from all the houses everything
of any value had been stolen and shipped to Austria.
The pillaging had been carried so far that the glass had
been taken from the windows, the blankets from the
beds, the locks from the doors, the bells from the
churches, the candles from the altars. Even the hos-
pitals had been despoiled. All the better clothing had
been seized and the people were left with nothing but
the ragged garments on their hacks. In some communi-
ties the best of the women's garments had been given in
the early days of the occupation to the small army of
prostitutes that the enemy brought with them, who were
in every way favored at the expense of decent women.
The latter were subjected to constant insult. The invaders
had been particularly rough on the women, and many
heart-rending tales were told of their sufferings. Nearly
all the live-stock had been seized for the uses of the army.
All the food had been requistioned, and the most meagre
rations doled out to the inhabitants. The amount and the
kind of food distributed varied in different localities. In
some places it was 20 grams of com meal a day ; in others
30 grams of a flour said to have been made of chestnuts,
acorns, bran, and grass. Besides this small quantity of
meal, cabbages constituted the chief article of diet. The
people had been subsisting largely on cabbage soup, and

Lj.

THE BATTLE OiF VITTOBIO VENETO

on what herbs and roots they could gather from the fields.
And the army in its flight had seized everything edible that
they could lay their hands upon, even entering the peasante'
houses and taking the polenta from the stoves. During
the year of occupation, thousands, particularly the children
and the very old, had died of starvation.

It was the universal testimony of the people that the
Hungarians, who had been their last masters, had been the
most cruel. Nest had come the Germans. The Austrian
officers were little better, but the men were for the most
part more considerate, and when coming to rob the people
would generally apologize, saying they knew the order waa
brutal hut they had no choice but to obey.

And so Italy, with her resources already strained almost
to the breaking point, found herself confronted with the
task not only of restoring the devastated homes but also of
caring for these destitute people, numbering about a mil-
lion, who, because the winter was at hand and the next
harvest far away, would for many months be unable to
provide for themselves. In this emergency lay another
big opportunity for the Red Cross, and it made the most of
it. In anticipation of a victorious offensive, the Red
Cross warehouses near the front had been well stocked with
food and clothing. As soon as the battle began personnel
was withdrawn from other activities and concentrated at
the front. All of the food not required for the immediate
use of the various Red Cross institutions was hurried
north. Preparations could be made on a large scale for it
was known that great quantities of additional food supplies
were on the way from America, most of which could be
diverted to the new need.

When the advance began the Red Cross was ready, and it
followed the army ao promptly that often the day after the
enemy evacuated the town it was there with its camions,
ready to begin its work of relief. In the much-battered
town of Conegliano the people who were living
ruins were gathered in the church the day after the

194 THE AMERICAN BED CBOSS IN ITALY

left — it was All Saints' day — to give thanks for their
liberation. The bombs had torn the roof from the chapel
where most of them were assembled, but "the image of the
Virgin was intact and that sufficed. And when Don
Giuseppe, the priest, announced at mass the arrival of the
Ited Cross, and the relief that was to be given at once, it
seemed to these people a direct answer to their prayers,
and, weeping wi^ joy, they came out to thank and bless
the Red Cross through its representatives.

How the news of the work of the Red Cross had pene-
trated the Austrian lines was shown by an incident reported
by the priest of Oderzo. The people left in this little
town had gathered in the public square and, forgetting the
ruins that surrounded them and the hunger that gnawed
their stomachs, were rejoicing over their liberation, when
one man in the crowd grumbled : " It's all very well to be
free, but we have nothing to eat.'' Whereupon a woman
standing by replied: "No matter! Soon the Americans
will be here to help us." And when the next day the Red
Cross arrived with its camions of food, ready to open a
center of distribution, she exclaimed exultingly, "I told
you they would come, and here they are ! "

Other centers were immediately established at Vittorio,
Sacile, Pordenone, Udine, and Belluno. The center at
Belluno was closed after a fortnight on account of the diffi-
culty of transporting supplies over the impassable roads.
But the others were continued until the end of March.
From each of these centers all the surrounding communities
were reached by special camion service until practically the
whole of the provinces of Veneto and Friuli had been
covered. A special warehouse was opened in an old con-
vent in Treviso, which was made a separate district, with
its own delegate, charged with the responsibility of receiv-
ing and distributing supplies which were soon arriving by
the trainload, and keeping his fleet of forty camions on the
move to meet the demands of the different centers.

The Red Cross never gave indiscriminately. After

a^PtE OF VITTOEIO VENETO

reaching a town, with the aid of the mayor, the priest, the
doctor, or others in a position to know, liata were made of
all the families, and each was provided with a card giving
ail the necessary information. Supplies were given only
upon the presentation of this card, which was stamped
each time food and clothing were given, a method which
prevented duplication and insured fair distrihution. So
successful was this arrangement that the local authorities,
when supplies were received from other sources, would not
infrequently ask the Red Cross to undertake their distribu-
tion. Dispensaries were established in nearly every cen-
ter, and visiting nurses and social workers made house to
house visits, checking up the lists, caring for the sick, and
issuing to the most needy orders on the Bed Cross ware-
house for articles that they specially required. Food
stuffs were in many eases supplied to local communities to
enable them to reopen public soup kitchens, where the poor
could obtain nourishing soup and bread free, the less poor
for a nominal charge. Food and clothing were furnished
to struggling orphanages, convents and other institutions
that had bravely withstood the ravages of the enemy occu-
pation. And large quantities of medical and surgical sup-
plies, bedding, furniture, and other necesaitiea were pro-
vided for the hospitals that had been left utterly bare by
tie fleeing Austrians. As the situation began to improve,
and stores were opened and government canteens estab-
lished, the number of persons in the Red Cross lists was
reduced, and this made it possible to take better care of
the children, the sick, and the most needy.

One day an Italian and his wife arrived at the Red Cross
offices in Padua to aak for relief. He bad been a soldier
in the Italian army, and his family had been left behind
at the time of the invasion in a little mountain town in
the province of Cadore. Returning home after the armis-
tice he found them in utter destitution. He remembered
the benefits he had received from the Red Cross as a sol-
dier, recalled its generosity and friendliness, and decided

led i

r
I

196 THE AMERICAN BED CEOSS IN ITALY

to appeal to it. He knew there was a Bed Cross center at
Padua, and so he and his wife set out, dragging a large
hand-cart, walking four days and nights before reaching
their destination, passing on their way through the city of
Vittorio by night without discovering that the Red Cross
was established there. It is hardly necessary to say that
their faith in the Red Cross was richly rewarded, and that
they were started on the return journey with a heavy load.
As a result of this experience, and of reports that had
begun to come in from the mountain towns, where the Red
Cross had not yet penetrated, it was decided to estahliah a
center at Auronzo, a beautiful town in the heart of the
Dolomites. Fifteen camions were sent up, laden with
food, soon to be followed by as many more, and from this
center all the surrounding hamlets were reached. The
people in the mountains had, on the whole, fared better
during the invasion than the people on the plains, but the
inaccessibility of the towns, the railroads having been do-
Btroyed, made government relief somewhat precarious, and
there was a great deal of suffering, particularly among the
poor. !Milk and fats were here, as elsewhere in the in-
vaded territory, almost unknown — necessary articles of
diet of which there was a great scarcity throughout Italy,
but with which the Red Cross was at this time fortunately
well supplied,

A new phase of the Red Cross relief work began when
the people who occupied the towns along the old battle
line on the Piave, who had been withdrawn to the interior
during the fighting, began to return to their ruined homes.
Their evident joy in getting home, although " home "
meant in nearly every case a heap of rubbish where it was
all but impossible to improvise even a temporary shelter
from the rain, was hard to comprehend. There were no
stores, no poatoffice, for some time not even a semblance of
city government, and no means of earning a livelihood.
The Italian Government did what it could to help these
people to re-establish themselveB, but there were scores of

■ea of "{

I BATTLE OP VITTORIO VENETO

ruined towns all calling for immediate relief, and the most*
that it could do was to provide for the barest necesaitiea.

There were 2700, out of a population of 7000, who
had returned to the mined town of Valdobbiadeue when
the Ited Cro3S arrived and established a center of distribu-
tion. This town, before the war the seat of a thriving
silk industry, surrounded by prosperous farms and vine-
yards, is situated on a hill commanding a superb view of
the Grappa and of the valley of the Piave. Not a build-
ing had been left intact. Four hundred children were
among the returned refugees, and five kindly Sisters had
opened a school for them in the niina of what had once
been a beautiful convent. There were three rooms that
could be used, and here the children were taught in relays,
those not in the classrooms spending their time playing
among the ruins, while awaiting their turn. The sole
equipment of the school consisted of some benclies and a
shell-cracked blackboard on which the Sisters wrote the
daily lesson with pieces of plaster. The Red Cross sup-
plied books, pencils, crayons, and other necessary school
furniture ; gave all the children clothing, and provided
them with milk and a hot meal every day from the kitchen
that was soon running. Nurses were sent up by the Red
Cross, and two barrack hospitals were immediately built
and put in charge of an Italian army doctor, a native of
the place, a splendid fellow, who was universally loved by
the people and who worked day and night with tireless
energy earing for the sick in the town and in the surround-
ing country.

The worst conditions were found to exist in the ruined
towns on the lower Piave. The marsh-lands here had not
been drained for a year; nearly all the people were suf-
fering from malaria, and they bad been hard hit by the
influenza epidemic. A Ked Cross worker, after discov-
ering Torre di Mosto, one of the most sorely stricken
towns in this district, wrote : " You cannot imagine the
desolation and abandonment of this place. I shall ah

198 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

be haunted by the picture of these sick, starving creatures
crawling around, poking at the ruins, — sunken-eyed, blue-
lipped diildren, and hazard, desperate women. The peo-
ple have been receiving a small supply of flour or meal
from the government distribution in the commune on
which this town depends, A few have succeeded in baking
this into bread ; but it is almost impossible to get fuel and
many are eating it raw."

So the Red Cross came to Torre di Mosto, took over the
town hall, the one building left that was in fairly good
condition, fitted up a small hospital, and started a dispen-
sary and clinic, with an Italian medical officer in charge,
that gave treatment to as many as one hundred and fifty
patients a day. An old Austrian camp kitchen found in
an adjoining shed was impressed into service, and the Red
Cross was soon distributing five hundred portions of soup
and as many of milk a day, A small laboratory was
opened where women were employed converting surplus
hospital garments and surgical dressings into children's
clothes. Clothing and canned and uncooked food were dis-
tributed weekly to people living at a distance from the cen-
ter. Meanwhile Ked Cross nurses went about caring for
the sick, investigating the needs of the people, and meeting
these as far as it was possible to do so, giving advice, sup-
plying disinfectants, and keeping infectious diseases from
spreading.

The Red Cross went to the little town of Calvecchia,
foimd a house in partial ruins, promptly repaired it with
the aid of some soldiers, and established an asilo where
one hundred and fifty children were cared for ; and set up
a soup kitchen and began the distribution of food. It then
opened a workroom where twenty women worked daily
under the supervision of a nun making pillows, mattresses,
sheets and clothing, and remaking articles that had been
sent from America to meet the existing needs.

Then the Red Cross went to San Dona di Piave, a com-
mune of 16,000, widely scattered in four '' fractions.'"

THE BATTLE Ot VITTORIO VBNETO IS

Nothing could exceed the chaos and desolation of this
place. There was not even a shelter for the Red Croaa
kitchen until one had been built. An enrollment was
promptly made of all the people, and three kitchens and
milk centers established, that aystematicallj distributed
food, so that all received assistance at least twice a week.
Plans were at once made for an asilo to care for the
children, and three barrack hospitals were erected and
operated.

The good effects of the Red Cross relief were everywhere
immediately evident. The people in general were intel-
ligent and self-respecting and the probability that, if given
half a chance, they would speedily return to normal ways
of living made anything that could be done toward help-
ing them, and tiding them over the hard winter months,
Beem worth while. From all of these centers relief was ex-
tended to the surrounding towns. And in many of the
ruined towns where it was impossible to give continued
assistance the Red Cross entered with the returning ref-
ugees and gave intensive relief during the first and hardest
days of re-occupation. A well known Italian writer, in an
article published in a leading daily, gives the following
pen picture of this phase of Red Cross work. After speak-
ing of the prompt and varied relief given by the Red Cross
and its perfect adaptation to the needs of the people, due
to its being based upon first hand knowledge of the
" humble, pedestrian, muddy but tangible facts," he
continues:

" The American Red Cross arrives with its camions in
a ruined village. Prom a cave in a trench, from the cellar
of a ruined house, from a hut made with four rotten poles
and a torn blanket nailed againat the apse of a destroyed
church, the men, women, and children come out.

" ' How many families are you ? ' asks in her rude
Italian a brave, smiling young girl in brown leather boots
and a gray ' Arditi ' sweater. Another girl has opened a.
bo:^ taken out a typewriter and turning the box over.

200 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

placed the machine upon it. She also smiles. The people
give their names; she writes the tickets.

" ' What do you need ? '

" ' Boots ' — ' Pruning knives ' — ' Salt ' — ' Spadsi'
— 'Quinine' — 'Blankets' — 'Meat' — 'Huts' —
' Milk ' — 'A sewing machine.'

'' ' We can't give pruning knives or spades, or shovehi
Here is the salt and the quinine. Here are fifteen blan-
kets. The rest we will send in five days. Cans of meat

and milk you can have on Mondays and Fridays at ^

two miles from here, by producing these tidcets. The
sewing machine we will send in eight days.'

'' Two hours later, the census finished and the distribu-
tion made, after the lists had been checked up by a visit
to the huts, the camion leaves. But five days later the
blankets arrive, eight days later, the sewing machine.
Little things, perhaps, in comparison to the task of the
government, but useful, and repeated in two or three
hundred villages. The communal secretary was right
when he commended the example of the American Bed
Cross, for its work has three qualities: (1) It is founded
on facts seen and touched; (2) it docs not promise more
than it can give; (3) it really gives what and in the
measure it has promised. That is why everybody believes
in it.

In all, half a million people were under the care of
the Ked Cross in the invaded districts during the winter
after the armistice; and a hundred thousand garments
were distributed. When this work was brought to a
close, toward the end of March, there was still a large
quantity of supplies of all sorts in the Ked Cross ware-
house at Treviso, and these were turned over to an
Italian committee that continued the work of relief in the
devastated area until the bounty of nature began once
more to provide for the needs of the people.

The men and women who carried on the work of the
Ked Cross in the liberated district, often under most primi-

THE BATTLE OP VITTORIO VENETO

tive living conditiona, had a hard and exacting task. Bnl
all of the reports that they sent in to headquarterg echo
the sentiment thus expressed in one of them : " I am
working seventeen hours a day, and never was so happy.
Every hour is packed with interest. We are saving livefl
hy the hundred. And how grateful every one is. I am
sure that if the people in America could only see what their
dollars are doing now they would be well pleased." And
there is another note that runs through the reports, best
described by quoting again : " The faults of the Italians are
on the surface ; every one can see them. But we are dis-
covering the sterling virtues underneath, I shall never
misunderstand these people again. I am filled with admir^
ation for their wonderful patience and courage, their cheer-
fulness in facing a truly desperate situation, and the dogged
determination with which they tackle the difficult problems
that confront them."

The work of the Red Cross in the Trentino diifered
from that in the devastated area east of the Piave, owing
to the different conditions, but was no less comprehensive.
Here, too, it followed in the wake of the advancing army,
and began the distribution of food in the city of Trent
immediately after it was captured. Before many days,
however, the railroad to Italy was repaired, and the most
pressing needs could be met by the government. So the
Red Cross moved on north to Bolzano, to care for the
returning Italian prisoners who were pouring in by this
route, and were in a condition scarcely less desperate than
that of the prisoners returning through Trieste and by the
Veneto. A kitchen was set up between the tracks at the
station, from which they all were served on the arrival
of the trains. After a few weeks this emergency passed,
and the Red Cross returned to Trent, where a new prob-
]em had arisen.

In the early days of the war the Auatrians had with-
drawn, and interned in German Austria, all of the people
from the towns south of Trent that were near the figb

g° I

r
I

202

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITALY

zone, who had not fled for refuge to Italy, and all the peo-
ple from the city of Trent who could not ahow that they
possessed the means to care for themselves for six months,
a provision often used as a pretext for banishing citizens
for political reasons. There were 150,000 of these refu-
gees or iniemati. As the trains that bore them north
reached the town of Bolzano they were stopped, the people
ordered to descend, and all who seemed at all able-
bodied — old men, women, and girla — were forced into
involuntary servitude, or worse. Many of them never
came back. These exiles were now returning in large
numbers. An excellent refugee committee of Trent waa
receiving and caring for them, and distributing them, as
it was possible to do so, to their own towns. Every morn-
ing a caravan of Red Cross camiona followed these people
to their destination, and distributed food, clothing, and in
many cases beds and bedding, on presentation of the
cards supplied by the refugee committee. Returning late
to Trent our representatives would work far into the night
making preparations for the distribution that was to be
made on the following day. So thoroughly was this work
done that literally every one of the repatriates was
directly or indirectly the recipient of Red Cross aid.
This statement is made on the testimony of the efficient
vice-president of the refugee committee of Trent, Dalla
Brida, an energetic young priest, with whom the Red
Cross worked in close cooperation, whose intimate knowl-
edge of conditions enabled him to speak with authority.
When the Red Cross withdrew from the Trentino, toward
the end of March, a large quantity of supplies was turned
over to the local refugee committee to enable it to continue
the work of relief with the destitute repatriates.

CHAPTER XI
Getting Out — Fighting TubercuIoaiB — Concluaion

All of its enterprises for civilian relief carried on
during the war had been undertaken by the American Red
Cross witb the express understanding that its obligations
should cease three mouths after the war was over, and that
it was to be the judge as to when the war ended. Accord-
ingly, after the armistice, all delegates were instructed to
begin at once to make arrangements for bringing the work
in their districts to a close. By the first of March, 1919,
the Red Cross had withdrawn from all its war-time activ-
ities for civilian relief, the district centers had been closed,
and the disbanding of the organization was well under
way. In moat cases, however, better than its word, it had
left with local committees the material necessary to con-
tinue until the following summer the activities that it had
started.

A volume might be filled with the expressions of appi
elation, oral and written, received from Italians of
walks and conditions of life, from the King, who, speaking
in his own name and in the name of the army and of the
people, voiced admiration and gratitude for the work of
the American Red Cross that had "made secure and im-
perishable the foundations of cordial and trusting friend-
ship between the two countries," down to the peasant
mother invoking the blessing of Heaven on America for
saving the life of her child ; from the Premier, from may-
ors, prefects, and other dignitaries, giving official acknowl-

on-
lad^J

al^^H
ing I

edgment of the effective work of relief, down to the smal^^^J
K child in the asilo touchingly trying to express the iullnw^^^^
H of hei heart: from the soldier at the front writing of l^^^^H
H^ 203 ^^^H

204 THE AMERICAN HED CROSS IN ITALY

gratitude for the load that bad been lifted from bis mind
by the knowledge that his loved ones were being cared
for in bis absence; from the distinguished Roman prelate
who declared with enthusiasm that the work of the Hed
Cross bad been a revelation, showing that a vast humanita-
rian work could be accomplished with entire detachment
from either religious or political influence, and with even-
banded justice to all, who said that people had often come
to him asking him to intercede with the Red Cross in tbeir
behalf or in behalf of some project in which they were in-
terested, and that he had always replied: "Go to the
Red Cross and present jour case. If your cause deserves
support you will get it." And he added that he had never
known of one refusal that was not justified.

One important phase of Red Cross work, the assistance
given in fighting tuberculosis, has not yet been described.
Its consideration has been deferred to this point because
it was a work carried out after the war was over, and be-
cause the nature of the work done, partly determined by
that fact, was such as to make it a natural transition from
the war work of the American Red Cross to its after-war
plans as these are to be carried on by the League of Red
Cross Societies,

The tuberculosis unit arrived in Rome shortly before
the final victory, with an organization that proved larger
than was required for the work that it was destined to
accomplish. The influenza epidemic was, however, at that
time at its height, and a number of doctors and nurses,
transferred to other departments, were able to perform in-
valuable service in that emergency.

It was decided, the war being over, not to spend the re-
sources of the Red Cross in erecting or subsidizing hos-
pitals, or in other ways caring for the tubercular victims
of the war, but rather to work with the Italians in devel-
oping methods for a systematic and thorough-going attack
upon the disease itself, thus utilizing the opportunity of-
fered to promote the advancement of international cooper-

CONCLUSION 20R ■

ration in public health work generally, and especially in
fighting contagious diseases,

In order to lay securely the foundations for effective
work a careful survey was first made of all Italy, province
by province, and statistical data were collected covering the
educational system, school hygiene, child labor, houaing
conditions, emigration and the labor situation, existing in-
stitutions and organizations for child welfare, for nursing,
and for the promotion of public health work in tubercu-
losis. Much of the material gathered in this survey has
been published in printed reports, which should be of
value not only in Italy in furthering international stand-
ardization in health work, but also in America in handling
the Italian immigrant problem.

As a result of this preliminary investigation a broad
and comprehensive program was adopted which involved
BB its basic feature the formation of provincial committees,
each employing a full-time executive secretary, and com-
mittees in various centers in each province. These com-
mittees were to complete local organization for anti-tuber-
culoais work, establish dispensaries, employ visiting nurses,
and carry on an educational campaign for which the Red
Cross was to furnish posters, pamphlets, traveling dispen-
saries, motion picture machines, films, and lantern slides.
In accordance with this plan provincial conmiittees were
organized in Liguria, Umbria, Sardinia, Palermo, Gir-
genti, and Alessandria, and more than a dozen local com-
mittees besides. The initiative was in every case taken by
interested Italians, and by them the work was carried on
and the funds raised for its continuance. The American
Red Cross gave financial assistance at the start and con-
tributed small subsidies for the first few months of opera-
tion. For the rest, it disappeared as much as possible into
the background, acting as advisor and consulting engineer
in health work, contributing educational material and
erally putting at the disposal of the committees the
of experience gained in similar work in America.

;meer n

[

20e THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN ITAU

Since the raost important factor in public health work
of any sort is the visiting nurse, schools were established
in Rome, under the auspices of a committee of the National
Federation of WomeD's Clubs, and at Genoa, under the
auspices of the provincial Anti-tuberculosis League of Lig^
uria, where in two four-month courses groups of Italian
women, specially selected because of their ability and their
previous nursing experience, were given intensive training
in district nursing by a corps of American women who
were experts in this field.

The Red Cross also gave assistance in certain closely
correlated fields of work. In cooperation with tbe national
association of men engaged in medical inspection work in
the public schools it worked out a general program, pre-
pared pamphlets and booklets of instruction for teachers,
and made arrangements with the Minister of Education
whereby government support was assured in the plans for
the rapid extension of this work to all the schools of
Italy. Local and national groups interested in child wel-
fare work were through charts and diagrams made ac-
quainted with tbe methods in use in America. A model
program was prepared and adopted by the child welfare
committee of Naples which was aided by the Red Cross
with supplies and a subsidy; and assistance was given to
leading pediatricians and obstetricians who were anxious
to form an association to start a national campaign for
child welfare.

There had been at all times in the work of the Italian
Commission of the American Red Cross close cooperation
with Italians, and in many caaes the Red Croas had ex-
tended relief through Italian organizations. What is
unique in the tuberculosis work is that from first to last,
in its inception and in its maintenance, it was constructive
work in the hands of the Italians, the Red Cross stimu-
lating interest, helping in the organization, advising, aiding
and backing the Italian committees in every way possible.
It is for this reason that this last phase of Red Cross activ-

' CONCLUSION

ity in Italy fomiB & natural transition from emergency

work to the persistent problemg of sickness and aufferii _
that every nation must indeed solve for itself, but that
cannot adequately be dealt with without that solidarity of
effort that will come through the League of Ked Croaa,
Societies.

It is the purpose of this League to stimulate
country the interest in Red Crosa work and to aid in th<
building up of a strong democratic Ited Cross organization,
with a large popular membership, so that it may in fact
be the expression of the collective heart of the nation. The
representatives of the various Red Cross organizations,
meeting in common council at the seat of the League, will
then constitute a great clearing house for the exchange of
ideas, so that the experience of each nation may become at
once the common gain of all, thus establishing effective
international cooperation in public health and social wel-
fare work. Moreover, through the League, the civilizet'
world will be united for joint effort in dealing with th(
problems that know no national boundaries but are
common task of humanity.

But the aim of the League looks much further than this.
Just as the spirit of compassion in individuals is the belief
in equality kindled and made effective by emotion, so, be
tween nations, the same spirit may be counted upon to make
alive and effective that belief in a deeper underlying
equality of civilized nations which better understanding
brings about, a belief that must prevail if there is to be
any hope of enduring peace. When men or nations meet
each other with suspicion and distrust it is generally in
large part due to misunderstanding ; the result is apt to be
jealousy and bate; and the logical end of hate is war.
If wars are to cease, nations must meet, not with the old
superiorities and condescensions, the old suspicions and
jealouaiea, but in the spirit of equality and friendship,
based upon mutual understanding and therefore carrvin"
with it confidence and trust. In the measure thi

vel-

208 THE AMERICAN BED CROSS IN ITALY

League of Eed Cross Societies succeeds in hastening this
happy consummation^ will it have fulfilled its highest
purpose.

As one looks back upon the work of the American Red
Cross in Italy, one may well take pride in its great accom-
plishment. But what is of the most value in that work is
the contribution made through it to this greater cause of
permanent peace. For what the Eed Cross has done to
strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two nations
through a better mutual understanding, carrying with it
confidence and trust, is its greatest, its enduring achieye-
ment.

APPENDIX I

Total Expenditures or the American Red Cross Commissio:

TO Italy raoM November, 1917 to June 30, 1919

[Statement Bupplied by Neleon Mills.]

From November, 1917, to June 30, 1919, the total expenses a
the American Red Cross Commission to Italy were, Lire 11^-4
880,066,20, divided as follows:

Qvil Affairs 74,332,817.00 64.71peroonti

Militarj Affairs ] 1,713,560.00 10.20 *

Medical Affairs 1 5,187,018.02 13.22

TuberculoB is Division ■,480,000.70 3,03

Administrative Bureau 8.854,82353 7,71

Eestricted Funds 5.620.77

MiscellaneouB 1,283,650.83 1.13

I14,SSO,IH0-2O lOOpeieeut

It is interesting to note the vHrious percentages against the
above exjienditurea, the total Administrative Bureau expense
being only 7.71% of the total

Under Department of Civil Affairs, we operated appropria-
tions for relief of refugees, for canteen service, for children's
work, for relief of Italian soldiers' families, for ouvroire and
section of home service. The various espenditures and per-
centages under department of Civil AfFairs to June 30, 1919, be-
ing as follows :

Administration 9S8,085.65 1.33 per cent J

Relief of refugees 24,61 1,220.79 33.1 1

Canteen Service 7,379,430.21 9.93

Children's Work 12,841,373.16 17.27

Belief of Italian Soldiers' Families... 16,450,948.67 22.14

Contingent Relief Fund 60,033.61 .08

Ouvroir Dept 11,822,157.77 15.91

Home Service 173,567.14 .23

74,332,817.00 100 per cent

ITnder the Department of Military Affairs we operated appro-
priations for the Relief of Italian Soldiers at the Front, Section
of Ambulance Serviw, Section of Canteens and Rest Hous^J
and Section of American Soldiers at the Front. The total i

APPENDICES

penditune of theee TartouB appropriationB with percentage i
June 30, 1919, being as follows:

AdminiitralioQ 199,102.26 1.70 per n

Italian Soldiers at Front 2,830,706.21 24.20

Ambulance Service 3,943,890.81 33.06

Canteen and Rest Housci 4,287,072.93 38.59

American Soldiers at the Front 452,198.39 3.86

ll,7in.56g.60 100 per cent

Under our Department of Medical AEFairs we operated four
appropriations, one for surgical dressings, one for section of hos-
pital service, one for administration and one for Kursea' Home
at Milan. The various expenses with percentages being as fol-
lows : ^^^_

Surgical Dresalngs Berrlea 1,189,808.66 7.83perMB^^^H

EoBpital Service 13,071,754.25 90,02 ^^^H

Administration 253,013.54 1.67 ^^^H

Nuraea' Home, Milan 72,951 .67 .48 ^^^

15,187,618.02 100 p«r cent

Our Department of Tuberculosis was divided into seven sec*
tiona, the total expenditures under each section to June 30, 191!
being as follows :

Adminiatration 342,895,41 9.84 per r*

Medical Service 238,437.85 6.84

Public Health Nursing 378.806.34 10.87

Public Health EducatiM 590.207,23 17.10

Hospital Relief 407,007.51 11.67

Traveling DiBpenaarieB 17,815.07 .61

Provincial OrgsJiization 1,504,806,45 43.17

3,480,068,70 100 pi

Our Department of Adnnnistration operated seven sectioi.
The variooB eipendituree with percentages under each to Jul
30, 1919, being as follows:

Section of Transportation 3,086,162,95 34.85perei

" PurchsBCB 127,840,79 1,44

"Stores 2.563,351-25 28.95

" " Finance ajid Accounts e9I.I.';7.45 7.81

" SeereUrj General 1,706,129.77 10.95

" " Public Information 581,522.61 6.57

Traveling ExpenseB Permanent Com-

to Italy 38,658.40 .43

8,854,823.22 100 pern

I
I

APPENDICES

It is intereating to note that, taking our total expenditures
June 30, 1919, the percentages are as follows:

Equipment 6.13 per tent

MerL-handiae for Relief 60.65

Salaries and Wagea 8.03

Operating Expenses S.55

Donations 10.64

100 per cent

Adding together Merchandise for Relief and Donations to
other organizations gives us 77.39% of our expenses given in
actual direct relief in Italy. Also the fact must be taken
into consideration that, included in the items of Salaries and
Wages, 8.03%, are the maintenance and salary charges of the
doctors, ambulance drivers, nurses, social workers, etc., whose
i were all directly devoted to direct relief, ao this per-
centage should really be added to the amount extended for
actual relief.

In connection with our equipment expense, 6.13%, we have
already received 25% of this in actual cash returns from salee
of equipment and the remainder of the equipment has been do-
nated to Italian institotiong so that the percentage of this should
be added to the amount expended for actual relief.

These percentages tell a very complete story of our work in
Italy and from the standpoint of the statistician are extremely
I TBluable.

APPENDIX II

Italian version of the first and last verses of the Star Spangled
Banner made by Capt. Frank A. Ferret, slightly modified in
the " attempt to carry forward the sense to our present day and
to our mission in the world."

Oh dite se ognor

Nel roasigno albor,
II simbolo fiero di nostra speranza

Con stellate splendor,

Ormai vincitor,
Ondeggi sul forte con balda fidanza.

Or che, al novo fulgor,

Gia la tenebra muor
E la fede rinasce fra tanto dolor.
CSie in alto quel nostro vessillo atellato

212 APPBNDICBS

Sempre sventoli al sol
Su libero suoll

Qualora nel cuor

Col piu santo amor
Un popolo sogni la sua libertade^

Dal fiero oppressor

Protegga ognor
II nostro vessillo le loro contradet

Dei nobili ardor

Iddio difensor
Ai giusti conservi la fede nel cor.
£ in alto quel nostro vessillo stellato

Sempre sventoli al sol

Su libero suoll

APPENDIX ni

AusmiOAN Belief Clsabino Hoitss is Soms

Executive Committee

Lewis Morris Iddings, Chairman

John Gray, Vice Chairman and Secretary

Qeorge B. Page, Treasurer

and

A. Apolloni, Marchese G. Guglielmi, L. Wollemborg, Dr. Jesse Bene-
dict Carter, The Hev. Walter Lowrie, Norval Richardson, H.
Nelson Ga^, G^rge W. Wurts, S. A. B. Abbott, StanW B.
Lothrop, Gorham Fhillips Stevens, Gaetano Cagiatl and £. O.
Bartlett

APPENDIX IV

The Amebioan Red Cboss Tempobabt Oommission

August 31 to October 2, 1917

George F. Baker Jr. Nicholas F. Brady

John R. Morron Chandler R. Post

Dr. Thomas W. Huntington Gorham Phillips Steyens

Dr. Victor G. Heiser Charles Upson Clark

APPENDICES

APPENDIX V

Emeegenoy Organization of the Amebican Red
Ckoss in Italy

November 5 —December 20, 1917

(The men whose names are printed in italics later served |
f with the permanent organization of the Americaa Bed Croas J
in Italy.)

Carl Taylor, Deputy Commissioner

Charles Carroll, Aide

Bemon S. Prentice, Director of Admtniatratioa

A. H. Green, Jr., General Manager

E. G. Smith, Director, Dept. of Aceoimta

E. H. Sherman, Director, Dept. ot Storei

E. E. Dart, Secretary

Ernest Meadowa, Publicity

J. Forreet Reilly, Assistant Secretatf

A. P. Cartier

Department of Military Aifairt:
H. B. Stanton, Director
G. W. Beadel, Assistant
R. G. Mather, Secretary

B. M. Neater, Chief Inspector
Nicholas R. Rhode*
RobertHon Williams, Field Delegate
H. B. WtJfctn*
Riohard Wallace
Myron C. Nvtiing

»S. W. O. Bovxtoin
Oharhi K, Wood, Inspector
Department of Civil Affairs:

Edward Eyre Hunt, Director, November 5-December 10
Ernest P. Bicknell, Director, December 10-December 20
B. 0. Barllett, Asst, to Director
W. C. Smallwood, Advisor to Director
Donaldson Clark, Assistant
A. J, Akin, Florence
Albert R. Chandler, Milan
Bugh Hcaton, Turin
O. H, Sellenings, Turin

■ G. F. Laughlin, Leghorn

■ (Stanley Lolhrop, Rimini

■ D. S. MacLaughlan, Palermo
K T. E. UaaiM, Naples

214 APPENDICES

C. V. Moore, Mikn

H. W, Partona

Oharlea A. W%lUam$, Delegate

Investigating Oommittee on Refugees:

Ernest Bicknell
Edward T. Devine
Paul U. Kellogg

Local Committees:

Milan:

North Winship, Chairman

U. J. Bywater, Secretary and Treasurer

Genoa:

Paul Grosjean, Chairman
Paul Allen, Secretary

American Consuls cooperating with Bed Cross:

B. Harvey Carroll, Jr., Venice

E. F. Dumont, Florence

North Winship, Milan

Vice Consul (Juincy Roberta, Genoa

W. J. Grace, L^hom

Samuel H. Haven, Turin

Robertson Honey, Catania

Joseph E. Shank, Palermo

Jay White, Naples

American Belief Committee in Lombardy November, 1917:

North Winship, Chairman,

Edward C. Richardson

John F. Stucke

Malcolm P. Hooper

William R. Baimson

Ernest E. Ling

William R. Meadows
Ulysses J. Bywater, Secretary and Treasurer.

Oenoa Committee of the American Bed Cross :

Paul Grosjean, Chairman
Quincy F. Roberts
A. T. Rosasco
Homer Edmiston
Lamar Fleming, Jr.
Paul Allen, Secretary

American Consuls cooperating with Bed Cross:

B. Harvey Carroll, Jr., Venice
E. F. Dumont, Florence

APPENDICJES

216

North Winship, Milan

Vice Coneul Quincy Roberts, Genoa

W. J. Grace, Leghorn

Samuel H. Haven, Turin

Robertson Honey, Catania

Joseph E. Shank, Palermo

Jay White, Naples

APPENDIX VI

Amebioan Eed Cboss Commission in Italy

as of December 20, 1917

Robert P. Perkins, Commissioner

Deputy Oommissionebs

Chester H. Aldrich
James Byrne
Dr. Joseph Collins
Ernesto G. Fabbri

Rev. Sigoumey W. Fay
Samuel L. Fuller
Guy Lowell
Thomas L. Robinson
Dr. L. Witmer

General Obganization

Placid James Carmeci
Sylvia Coney
Glyn Davies
Jolm B. Erit
Sophie P. Foote
Raymond L. Hayman
William R. Hereford
Alice McKay Kelly (Mrs.)

W. A. Moore
Gardner Penniman
Regis H. Post
Julius Roth
Ernest A. Salvi
John DeRaismes Storey
Alexander Torelli
Edgar I. Williams

Liaison Offioebs

Rome Office

lit. Col. Adolfo ApoUoni

Maj. Gioecchino Laurenti
Lieut. Nerino Raspom

Bologna
Col. Ranuccio Marzochelli Lt. Guido Senguinetti

Vicenesa
Capt. Felice Cacciapuoti Lt. Guglielmo Nesi

APPENDICES

APPENDIX VII
Ohoahization as of Novembeb 1, ISii

Department of ADMiNiaTHATioN
Ernesto Fabbri, Inspector Gpnerftl
J&meB Byrne, Legal Adviger
Sunuel L. Fuller, Director of AdmitUBtration I CommiBaioner Janoi

to April, IBIO)
Herbert ScoTtUe, SecretHfj General
NelBon Mills, Comptroller (Director Finance and Accounts Mardi

27, 1919)
Julius Roth, Director Stores and Transportfrtlon
Gino L. Perera, Director Departmeot Purrhases
William B- Hereford, Director Department Public Information
Charles M. Bakewell, Department of Public Information

Clarence S. MeKune, Real Eetate and Property

Palmer P. Day, Asst. Secretary General fSeeretary General April

15, 1919)
Thomas B. Taylor, Aest. Secretary Qeneral
Norman L. Wills, Jr., Asst. C<»nptrol!er (Comptroller March W,

1919)

Humbert Erit, Paymaster

Gorham Lyie Olds, Asst, Department Public Informatitm

John Howard Lawson. Editor of the Bulletin

John DeR. Storey, Aaet. Legal Adrisor

Department of MiLiTARr Affairs
Out Lowell, Director of Department
Phillips B, Thompson, AssiBtant to Director
Henry B. Wilkins, AHsiBtant to Director
James Gamble, Field Director Rolling Kitchens
Robert W. Bates, Director of AmbulancB Serrice

Section Chef», Ambtilance Service:

Section I; George Utasey, L. G. Hunter, M. D, Betweiler, CluirlM

Waldispuhl
Section II : James P. Gillespie
Section III: F. J. Nash, O. P. Aakajn
Section lY: Charles B. Griffin, E. H. Baker
Section V: Howard Kahn, G, F. Voile

Section Sous-chefs, Amhulance Service:

Section I: L. G. Hunter, Charles Waldispuhl, John K. Oloud

Section II: A. E. Collinson

*T1: E. J. Welch, J. H, Tedford

APPENDICES

Department of Medical Afpairs
I Dr. JoBepIi Collins, Director of Department
Dr. Eugene Crockett, Aeaietant to Director
Dr. Ralph Hfimill, Aaaistant to Director
Dr. Charles Rigga Parke, Physieian to Red Croaa PerBomiel
Sara E. Shaw, Director of Nurses
Mildred Blum en thai. Secretary

Department of Civil Affaihs
Cheater H. Aldrich, Director of Department
Edward 0. Barilett, AsBt, Director of Department (Conui

April 1, 1Q19)
Gertrude H. Springer, General Secretary
Charles F. White, in charge of Home Service work.

District Delegates
Avellino, G. P. Ceutanini, Josephine Centanini (Mrs.) Co-Delegate
Bari, Edward D. Self (May, IBIS-November, 1918); C. T. Erickaoo

(October, 1018-Januarv, 191B)
BoIogUA, Nicholas R. Rhodes (Dec., ISIT-Not. 16, 1018) j WUliam

Sohier Bn-ant (Nor., iei8-F6b., 191B)
Calabria, H, W. C. Bowdoin
Florence, A. J. Akin
Genoa, Edgar I. Williams
Milan, Thomas L. Robinson (Dec., 1617); Joseph M. MacDonoiUj

(Feb,, 1918-Jan., 1019)
Naples, Thomas A. Mason (Nov., 1917-Mar., 1018); Charles .

WilliamB (Nov., 1917-Jan., 1919)
Padua, Frederick C. Thwaits
Palermo, Donald S. MacLaughlin (Dec, 1017-Aug., 1018); John O.^

Champion (Angust, IBIS-Feb., 1910)
Rimini, Stanley Lothrop
Roman District, Harold W. Parsons
Sardinia, Cbariea W. Wright
Taormina, Charles K. Wood (Dec., 1917-Maroh. 1018); Winifred O.i

Putnam (Mar., 1918-Feb., 1919) I

Turin, Hugh Heatou (Jan., lOlS-March, 1018) ; Irving E. Taylor I

March, lOlB-Jan., 1019) I

Venice, Moses S. Slaughter, Gertrude M. Slaughter (Mrs.) Co- J

Delegate

Sub-District Repretmtativei
Anzio, H. I. Stickroth
Canicattini Bagni, Dr. L, Alfleri-Marsh
Chioggia, A. R. Chandler
PUcenza, T. Robertson WilJiams (Nov., 1917-Nov., 1918);

L. Rowan (July, lOlS-Mar,, 1910)

218 APPENDICES

Pisa, Franoeico Mauro
Umbiia, Sophie P. Foote
Verona, Ridiard W. Wallace
Vioenzay Qeorge Utassy

Tuberculosis Department

William Charles White, Director

Robert H. Biehop, Jr., Asst. Director

Robert G. Paterson, Section of Public Health Education

Ervine A. Peterson, Section of Public School Hygiene

Richard A. Bolt, Section of Child Hygiene

John H. Lowman (to January 4, 1919), Section of Medical Service

Joseph C. Palmer (Jan. 4-24, 1919, Section of Medical Service

Lewis D. Bement, Business Manager

Louis I. Dublin (to Nov. 4, 1918), Section of Statistical Information

Knud Stouman (from Nov. 4, 1918), Section of Statistical Informa-
tion

Mary S. Gkurdner, Section of Public Health Nursing

Elnora E. Thomson, Educational Director, Section of Public Health
Nursing

Annie R. McCauley, Acting Assistant, Section of Public Health

Bertha M. Laws, Secretary to Commission

APPENDIX Vin

Representatives fob Emeeoency Work nr
Devastated Tejelbitory

Ernesto G. Fabbri, Inspector General
R. Leland Keeney, Delegate

AUBONZO:

C. M. Girard, In charge of civil distribution
H. C. DePinna (Mrs.), Civil distribution

Belluno:

G. M. Springer (Mrs.), In charge of civil distribution
R. D. Farquhar, Civil distribution
Rosa Gandolfo, Nurse

CONEGLIANO:

Seymour Bulkley, In charge of civil distributicm

Franc Delzell, Assistant

Dr. Jane Robbins, District nursing

Jane T. Dahlman (Mrs.), Nurse

Maria T. Ambrosini, Nurse

Anne R. Smith, Civil distribution

APPENDICES

Frank P. Fairbanks, In charge of distribution for district

Umberto Poeaenti. In charge of outeide diatribution

Amado Pacifici, Civil distribution

Janet Comerford, In charge of nuraing

Giorgio Parinetti, NuiBe

Agnes Conway, Nurse

Gladys H. Moore, Nurse

PORDEflONB:

James P. Carmeci, In charge of distribution for district
Edward W. Forbes, In charge of distribution for toini, later, i

district
Samuel M. Sturgeon, Civil diatribution
Margaret Farquhar, District nursing
Bora E. Lobb, Nurse's helper

SACJLE:

G. A, Fraaer, In charge of distribution for district
Susan Cort, In charge of distribution Sacile center
Jeanette F. VanSciver, Civil distribution
Millie C. Gosnej, Diatriet nursing
Margaret P. Smith, Nurse in hospital
Franca Saroni, Nurse in bospital
Valeria Bittenhouse, Nurse in iiospital
Ellen K, Finerty , Secretary in hospital

San Dona Di Piave;

TOHBE Di MoaTO:

Charlotte M. Wiggin, In charge of distribution
Joseph P. Rose, Civil distriliution
Agnes H. von Kurowsliy, District nuraing
Loretta A. Cavanaugb, In charge of hospital

Tbebto:

Louis F. Corti, In charge of distribution
Amej O. Aldrich, Distiibution

TXETIBO:
Leland R. Keeney, Delegate Treviso District and reoecupied terrl-'

tory beyond Piave
Harry H, Eochefort, In charge of warehouse
Edward K. Taylor, In charge of stores
G. F. Voile, In charge of transportation at Treviso and reoccupied

territory
Thomas R. Pearce, In charge of distribution in Valdobbiadene Dis-

220 APPENDICES

Robert D. Irion, In charge of medical storee
Glyn Daries, In charse accounting at TreTiao
Edward C. Foote, In diarge of accounting at Treriao
W. P. Brown, In charge of shipping at TreTiao
Maury F. Jonee, Warehouse
Mary Herald, Stenographer and civil distribution
Dorothy Buck, In charge medical distribution
Grace £. Peterson, Stenographer Medical Department
Delia C. DeGraw, In charge of nursing, 331st Hospt.

UnnrB:

Clarence A. Davis, In charge of distributiim
Z. G. Brockett, Outside di^ribution
C. A. Sherman, Civil distribution
Georj^iana B. Sherman, Civil distribution
Willie C. Johnson, Civil distribution
Maurice Best, Civil distribution

ViTTOBio:

Frederick L. Stephens, In charge of civil distribution

Douglas Chamley, Civil distribution

J. B. Thomas, Civil distribution

Elizabeth Morrison, Distribution of clothing

Dr. Harriet Ballance, Charge of Medical Dispensary

PEBSOIOnEIi

Home Sebvioe Depabtment of the Amebioan Red

Cboss in Italy

In charge of Joseph A. Dial until Oct., 1918

In charge of Charles F. White from Oct., 1918, to May, 1919

Organization after May, 1919

Biildred Chadsey, Director

Sophie Palmer Foote, Supervisor of Case Work

Field

Sue Wade Harmon, Field Worker

Brewster Jones,

Ugo Pellegrini,

Julia Raymond,

Giovanni Kicca,

Ada Sassi,

Carmie V. Vacca,

Jay Walker,

Sara Welsh,

((

t«

APPENDICES

OFnoB

Italia*
AnbroBiui, Msria Tereik
Bajetto, Aleaandra
Borello, Just in a,
Cam pan a, Maris
rKAmipo, Livia,
D'Angelo, Gennaro
Failli, Elena
Lenox, Laura
Locaacio, Laura
Malateeta, Bianca
Mariotti, Sara
Perticucci, Luigna

GaliovsT, EUie
Glomi, Anne
Hughes. Dorothy
Lonadale, Jane White
Nebergall, Dorothy
Piggott, James
Stewart., Verda
Story, Vivian
Weadick, Sarah laabel

Mra. Charlotte M. Heilman and Mibb Mary Grant Fraser, i

the TuberculoHie Department, have also done field work for thii
department.

APPENDIX IX

Ambolance Service and Rolling Canteen Sebvioi

The decorations here noted are Italian decorations.

• Silver Medal
" Bronie Medal

■"Silver Medal and War Cross — 2 or more citationi
•' Silver Medal and War Cross — I citation
••■War Cross — 2 or more citations
■■■•War Croaa — I citation

Ambulance Service — Section I
Ackerman, E. B. Chambers, Robert N.

Appleyard, E. H. Clark, Charles M.

Argllle, Benjamin F. Cloud, JohnK-'

4)""
Barber, Theo. P.
Barlow, William E.
Barr, Robert H.
Bird, Fred. 0.
Bermingham, Arch tf.
Bragg, Fred A.
Burns, Raymond F.
Chadbourn, H. N. Jr.
Chambers, Ambrose E.

. Clifford O.
(alao Section Connett, Thomas 0.
Ciunmiag, Robert
Cunningham, Robert A.
Darling, Herbert H., Jr.
Davis, Rusael
Detweiler, Meade D.*^^"
Dickinson, Wells S,
Dos Paasos, John R.

Droppers, Reton Rand •■■*
Eliot, Charles Wm. 2nd"**
Ellsworth, Duncan S.

222

APPENDICES

Ahbttlanoe Sebyioe — SEcnoir I. — Contimied

Fairbanks, S. VanK.

Fiake, John

ForbcA, John M.

Frenning, Alfred B.

Goodwin, William H.

Harris, Harley H.

Heyne, Oscar C.

Howard, Charles S.

Hunter, Lytle Gale

Irwin, Leon, Jr.

Jacob, Kalph E.

Jacob, Arthur C.

Johnson, Percy D.

Kahn, Howard (also Section

6) ♦•♦♦
Kenyon, William H., Jr.
^King, Joseph M. (also Section 5)
Kingman, Henry S.
Knapp, Harry K., Jr.***
Konrad, Harvey M.
Lawson, John H.
Lindermann, L. C.
Liimmis, John M.
Morgan, Stewart McK.

Osterholm, Harvey G.
Page, Charles A.
Penniman, Gardner B.
Poore, Dudley (also Section 4)
Rodie, Walter W. (also Section 6)
Rogers, Bernard F.
Rotan, Ellwood, Jr.
Salter, Thomas M.
Seeley, Coles Van B .**••
Steers, James R., Jr.
Sturdy, Herbert K., Jr.***
Van Cleve, John R.
Van Don Arend, Fred
Villard, Henry S.
Voile, Gottlieb Fred (also Sec-
tion 6) ♦♦♦♦
Wakiispuhl, Charles*''
Wharton, Bayard *
Wharton, Thomas
Wheeler, Alfred H.
White, Richard L.
Widner, Joseph A.****
Young, Charles J.

Ambulance Sebvicb — Secjtion H

Bakewell, William M.
Bangs, Edward
Brunson, Stiles M.
Buell, Robert L.
Cady, Fred. L. A.
Campbell, Donald L.
Chipman, John H.
Chi^stie, Walter, Jr.
Collinson, Alfred E.*
Cooper, Irving C.
Cordner, Edward Q.
Crew, Morris W.
Davidson, Lucius H.**
Desloge, Joseph
Dodson, Rowland W.
Dorr, G. H.*
Dresser, George E.
Ellis, Parker K.
Fast, Thomas MacB.
Forster, Gardner ****
Frisbie, Chaimcey O.

Jones, Fontaine M.

Lothrop, Francis B.

Lundquist, John S. H.

Macy, Valentine E., Jr.

Miller, Richard K.

Nash, Francis P., Jr.

Newburn, Arthur C.

Nichols, John R.

Osborne, R. H.

Parmelee, John R. (also Sec. 3)

Parmelee, James H.

Reid, Hugh H.

Richmond, Stacy C.

Roblee, Milo H.

Roe, Clarence F.**

Rogers, Horatio R.

Roland, Robert H.

Scudder, John A.

Steward, Gilbert L.

Stougbton, Philip V.

Temple, Richard

# Killed by Austrian shell at Bassano Sept. 29, 1918.

^^^^^^^ APPENDICES ^^^^^B

H AMBcijiriCE BmvioD-

- Secttoh n. — Continuei ^^^|

W Frotbingbam, Wllliaia B.

Thomas, Joaiab B.**** ^^^M

GilleBpiu, Jamea P.-'

Fan Ingen, Lawrence ^^^H

Gordon, John A.*»

Wadsworth. Seymour ^^^H

Green, Julian H.

Whitnev, Jamea McV. ^^M

Hutt, Roy H.

Wolfe, Dudley F. C.*" ^^H

■ AifBULAi40E Sbbvice — SecmaN in ^^^1

m -Abbott, Panl

liellett, William W. ^^H

■ AlMSMder, K. D.

Masters, Charles E.*"' ^^^H

Jskam, Oliver p.»»»*

Miller, John W., Jr.- (also Se^^H

Beall, Edward C.

2) ^^^H

Bollmeyer, Fred J.

Morrison, James H. ^^^H

Brackett, Hoeford

Kusser, Edgar Hale ^^H

Brown, Linford E.

Nash. Francis J. ^^^1

Campbell, Kenneth "'■•

Noyes, George C."" ^^^^1
Olson, Malcolm G.'"> ^^^H

Carpenter, George N,**'*

Carr, Peyton T., Jr.

Palmer, Merrill G.**"* ^^^H

Cliebee, George H.

Pillsbury, Stirling G. ^^^H

Dalzell, Robert B.

Preacott, Bryant ••" ^^^1

Doe, Charles W.. Jr""

IRieser, Robert .(also SectM^^^H

Eaton, Jamea H.""

^^^H

Fairbanka, James M.

Rodes, Clifton ^^^H

Fisher, Clarence A.

Simmons, Rouse ^^^H

Flint, Cuvier G.

Slade, W., Jr.""* ^^H

Fussell, Raymond H.

Smith, Douglas M. ^^H

Gibba, Harry P., Jr.""

Smith, Wilbur E.**'* ^^H

Gould, Howard F.

Spelman, Henry M., Jr.**"" ^^H

Hanks, Raymond T.""
Harper, Edward B.

Stinson, Robert ^^H

Tedford, John H.**" ^^H

Henderson, Winsted C.""'

Thomas, Frank N., Jr. ^^H

Hohl, Wniard H."»»

Thoindike, Bobert A.**** ^^H

Howard, Harlan H.

Tiaon, Paul ^^H

Hobart, JameB C, Jr.

Valentine, AlasUr I. 0. ^^H

Huber, Jerome J.

Warren, Charles B. ^^H

Humphrey, Merrill W.

Welty. Duncan 0., Jr. ^^H

_ Jenaen, Allan L. G.

Williams, Harvey L. ^^M

^ Johnson, William McK.

Wilson. Lloyd R. ^^^M

H Jones, Francis 0.

Wolfe, Henry C. ^^^H

^ Ambulamce Service — Section IV ^^^|

Allyn, Philip M.

Lasher, Charles W."— ^^M

Anthony, E, A.

Lindacy, Rupert W. ^^H

Baker, Edwin H., Jr.

Meyer, Arthur ^^H

_ Bamett. Lawrence T.

Moore. William 8., Jr.* ^^M

K Baum, Kichird T.

Nevin, Jack ^^H

■ Blakeley, George B.

Pease. Warren H. ^^H

^^ Brumback, Theo. B.

Pentz. William R. .^^H

AMKJLtXtX SnviCK ~

APPENDICES

CrafU, John
CrandBll, Charle* S.
Dickenuan, Robert E.
Eoff, WiUiftin T.
Feder, Walter J.*'
Fisher, Lawrence G.
Flaliertj, Jerome S.
George, Willi&ni H.****
Goodrich, Fred. P.
Green, Augustus W.'"*
GrifBn, Charles B.*'**
Haehe, Pierra
Hamilton, Henry M.
Harris, G, W-
Hawes, Richard S., Jr.
Hemingway, Ernest M.*
Home, William D., Jr.
Jenkins, Howell O.
Johnson, Herbert S,

Porritt, I.oiigihaw K.**"*
Preeton, George W,*"**
Rehm, George E.
Reid, John K.
Rollins, Wm. S., Jr.
Russell, Scott
Schwartz, Samuel
Sciidder, Cljflon R.
Shaw. Carleton
Shaw, Emmett H.
Shipwaj, Leelie S.
Sinumone, Zaimon O., Jr.***

Slegel, Frederick Wm.
omaaon, Arthur E.
Toole. Brice W.
WaldroD, Jonathaii G.*""
Weiss, William L.
Welch, Edward J., Jr.
William, George W. {tiao I

tion 5) ""
Wolfs, VViifred H."*'

Amsdiasce Sbbvice — Sectios V

Agtte, Frederick J,"'
Baker, Milford J-
Bennett, Robert C.
Bigelow, Talman •••*
Biihy, Willard W.""
Bobb, John McC-*""
Bridgman. Eldridge
BuDtiu, Roger W.
Butler, Hiland O.
Comatock, Chauncey D.**'
Dougherty, Edward R.***
Dutican, Elbert B.
Gc^ie, James C, Jr.*"*"
Greenland, HaywaJ-d "*
Hioki, WilUam E.— •

Uay, Lewis 8. (kbo I

4) ••"

Murphy, Chandler W.
Norton, Percy D.
Piper, George F.****
Price, George M.
Rigby, William H.
S^in, Ted W."**
Sherman, Charles A., Jr."*
Sturgeon, Samuel M.****
Tabor, Fred A. W:*"
Tandy, William
Vanderveer, John S.*"*
Wormser, Robert S.

RoLLiNa KrroHEN Sebvicb

Gttnblo, Junes •**■

Bauby, John W.****
Beach, John P.
Brown, William P.

Cochran, Gifford A.**
Dabney, Alfred S.
DonaldHon, Harry F.
Ehrhart, Eugene N.**

Direi

Miller, Walter F.**"
Mintura, John W."*'

#■ Moore, William D., Jr.*
My lea, Beverly R.

# Penniman, Gardner B.
Rogers, L. w.*"**
Set^cer, Richard B.

APPENDICES

225

BoixiNG Kitchen

Friedman, Victor H.»»»»
GiU, Charles ¥.•***
Ladd, Carroll W.
# Laaher, Caiarles W.»*»»
Lee, Rudolph H.*»**
Leggett, Schuyler ♦♦♦•
McConnell, Roy P.
## McKey, Edward N.»
Miller, Alfred J.

Service. — Continued

Searles, Donald W.

fSeeley, Coles V.»»»»
Sturgeon, Samud M.***»
Squier, Frank
Steams, Howard Y.****
Stilhnan, Carl S.»**»
Todd, John R.
Watcoiiury, Reggie

fAlso appear on Ambulance List.
# Killed by an Austrian shell while on duty June 18, 1918.

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APPENDICES 253

APPENDIX XII

Statement op Some op the Chibp Items Otheb Than

Medical and Subgioal Supplies Received and

Disteibuted by the a. R, C. in Italy

Milk 6,066,600 cans

Flour 2,146,100 lbs.

Meat (barreled beef and pork) 1,996,600 *'

Canned Soup < 480,000 cans

Beans 17,690 sacks 1,769,000 lbs.

Peas 6,885 « 588,600 «

Sugar 6,770 " 677,000 "

Lard 1,366 tierces 477,760 *'

Bacon and salt pork 839,982 "

naJSfTMD Ut THl UNITID STATU OV AXmCA

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